A GUILTY THIEF who stole $800 from a supermarket three decades ago has repaid the money, plus some interest.
The anonymous burglar sent a note and $1,200 in $100 bills to the sheriff’s department in Hastings, Michigan, WOOD-TV reported.
The writer admitted breaking into a local store, the Middle Mart, about 30 years ago.
In a letter packed with emotion and spelling errors, the writer asks for “help in locating a man” to whom he owes the money. He wrote:
Anyways, I did a very bad thing that I am shamed of and have lived with this guilt. I can’t begin to say how sorry iam but have lived with this guilt too long. If you do find him, please tell him that I was afoolish stupid man when I did that and iam sorrie.
The letter was unsigned and had no return address.
The $1,200, while it includes some interest, falls short of making up for the loss in the dollar’s purchasing power over the intervening years. The stolen $800 would be worth about $1,800 today, based on changes in the consumer price index.
WOOD-TV said the former owner of the store, now called Greg’s Get-N-Go, confirmed it was broken into in the 1980s. The store was sold in 1988.
Undersheriff Bob Baker said the letter and cash came as quite a surprise.
“This doesn’t happen every day,” Baker said. He said the department isn’t interested in reopening the case because of the time that has passed.
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