Today’s story is like a reverse of yesterday’s, kind of. — Dan
The Thieves That Wrestled With Their Conscience
Pictured above is a toy — a replica WWE championship title belt. It retails for about $20 at Walmart, and the quality is what you’d expect from a $20 toy — Walmart describes it as “authentic-style” and “leather-like,” which is to say it’s mostly plastic. If you want something that’s closer to authentic and actually leather, you can get that, too, but that version will run you more than $350. But don’t knock the cheap version. It’s great for kids, and that’s all that matters.
Even to the bad guys.
On June 24, 2019, a pair of these $20 belts landed on the doorstep of Sergio Moreira of Edgewood, Washington. Moreira hadn’t purchased the belts for his kids, though — in fact, he hadn’t purchased them at all. Per Yahoo! News, Moreira was “a wrestling belt artist who refurbishes WWE replica belts with metal, leather, cubic zirconia and more.” The two belts that arrived on his porch that day were sent to him by Tim Vick, a father in Delaware. The belts were the prized possession of his five-year-old son, Timmy.
But Moreira didn’t receive the belts, at least not immediately. Because when they arrived, he was at a WWE event in Washington, and some thieves stole them from his house.
And that’s when the full story came out. Moreira had a doorbell camera and caught the thieves on video, and the local police department posted the footage to Facebook, hoping someone would help them identify the women who pulled off the theft. Moreira went even further. He spoke with the local press and explained not only what was in the boxes, but also why they were on his doorstep: Timmy was “a 5-year-old Delaware boy who struggles with autism and needs surgery to remove a dangerous brain tumor,” and the young boy “sleeps with the belts as a comforting symbol of courage.” The Vicks didn’t have a lot of money, but Moreira — out of the kindness of his heart — offered to “retool” Timmy’s belts to make them feel more real and substantial. Per Moreira, the thieves hadn’t just stolen a couple of toys. They “stole hope” from little Timmy. He pleaded with the thieves to return the goods.
Two days later, the thieves returned to the scene of the crime, and this time, Moreira was home and saw them approaching on the doorbell camera. As he told USA Today, “When I recognized them and they got out of the car, I looked in the car, the rest of the car, to see if anyone else was with them. Yeah, I didn't know what their intentions were. If they were driving up to confront me for putting them on the news or who knows?" But they weren’t there to start a fight — they were there to return the belts and apologize. They told Moreira that they were homeless and the friend they were staying with saw the story on the news, and was so disgusted, threw them out. Realizing the error of their ways, they attempted to reverse the crime. One even wrote a note, which Moreira shared with the public:
We are so sorry for taking your stuff. Never in a million years would I have expected I would have stolen from a sick five-year-old. I have a six-year-old myself and am ashamed of what I did. You see, life has had its ups and downs for us. We're homeless and we were trying to make a quick dollar or two. We never wanted to steal a child's hope. We have everything from both packages inside this pink tote. I will knock on your door and tell you the same. I am embarrassed with myself, ashamed, and deserve all the hate of the world. Please find it in your hearts to forgive us. After seeing ourselves looking like low lives on the news, we have both decided to get clean and sober.
Moreira agreed to not press charged if the pair agreed to get the help they needed. Whether they did has gone unreported, but at least there’s hope. And Timmy Vick got his belts back — with Moreira’s improvements — a week or so later.
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More About Toys and Crime
Today’s Bonus fact: Travelling with kids can be hectic even in the best of circumstances, but toys (and snacks!) can really cause a headache for everyone in the terminal, if an incident from 2006 is any example. That October, part of San Diego International Airport was evacuated when security screeners thought they had come across an improvised explosive device (IED), a crude type of bomb. About 90 minutes and six delayed flights later, though, officials realized that the culprit was anything but, as CBS News reported: “Essentially what they did find was a child's toy and some organic material in a bag that turned out to be a cookie. Those two items combined on-screen, they very much appeared to be an IED, and it turned out not to be,” according to a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman.
From the Archives: The Spies in the Toy Box?: Why the CIA banned the Furby.
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And thanks! — Dan