Matt Lima poses for a photo at Somerset Police Department in Massachusetts. Courtsey: Somerset Police Department

Gulf Today Report

Shoplifting is a crime worldwide and if caught one can expect hefty fine and may land behind bars.

But in a rarest of rare case a family of four caught for shoplifting at a ‘stop and shop’ outlet in Massachusetts not only escaped punishment but also got paid for items they tried to steal.

And it was none other than the cop, who was supposed to arrest them for the crime, turned out to be the one who made their Christmas memorable.

The incident happened five days before the Christmas.

Somerset Police Department in Massachusetts assigned Matt Lima to look into a shoplifting incident.

Once the cop reached the crime spot, he saw two women along with two children were detained by the outlet employees.

The women were accused of scanning some items at self-checkout but bypassing other items and bagging those items.

Matt Lima, after talking to one of the women found out that the mother of two girls didn’t have any work and wanted to buy things to prepare Christmas meal for her children.

After thorough inquiry of their bags, Lima found out that all the unscanned items were food items only and nothing else.

Lima, who is also father of two girls, felt sorry for the family and decided to pay for the ‘stolen’ items.

Lima decided not to press charges against the family.

The benevolent cop paid $250 from his own gift card from another store to help the family buy items for their Christmas dinner.