Perhaps the only thing worse than getting in trouble with the law is getting in trouble with your parents.

A Seattle woman who had some items stolen from her car called the thief’s mother after the suspect accidentally left his phone behind.

When Eliza Webb found the phone in her car, she assumed it belonged to whoever swiped shoes and glasses from the vehicle. She scrolled through the phone, found “mom” in the contacts and called to only what can be described as tattle on the thief:

I said, ‘This is a very uncomfortable phone call to make. I have your son’s phone and I’m missing some things out of my car and I think they might be two related items.’ And she [the mother] was devastated.”

Webb, who works with teenagers, didn’t want the 19-year-old bandit to get in any trouble, so she went to his house to clear up the matter, where she said he answered the door with “a defeated look.”

The suspect confessed to stealing items from about 10 cars in the same neighborhood after a night of drinking and Webb convinced him to go to each house to give back what he’d stolen.

In the end, the police were kept out of it. Considering how much he stole, this outlaw ought to be thanking his lucky stars.

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