7-Eleven owner shows shoplifter compassion after finding out why he's stealing

A 7-Eleven store.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

When the owner of a 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, learned that a young shoplifter was stealing in order to feed his family, he did something unexpected.

Jay Singh noticed the teenager was acting suspiciously, and told an employee to call the police. Singh confronted the teen, and asked him why he was stealing. "He said, 'I'm hungry. I'm stealing it for myself and my younger brother,'" Singh told CBS News. "I said, 'You need food? I'll give you food. That's not a problem.'"

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.