They Stole a Porch Package, Then Found Out What It Was

Thieves swiped a wrestling belt replica that belonged to a sick 5-year-old Delaware boy—but this story has a somewhat happy ending. Timothy Vick Sr. tells WBOC that little Timmy Vick was diagnosed with autism when he was just a toddler, but then, another development in October: Timmy had a brain tumor. To help make that news easier for Timmy to deal with, his parents saved up close to $2,000 so that they could purchase the WWE belt replica and ship it across the country to Washington belt designer Sergio Moreira, whom they commissioned to swap out the plastic gems for cubic zirconia and make other alterations so the belt would be as authentic as possible. But before Moreira could start his work, the unthinkable happened: Two women were spotted on his door-view camera stealing the package with the belt right off his porch.

Then, the unthinkable happened again: The women saw local media reports about the theft, as well as their own pics, and returned in person to give the belt back to Moreira, along with a four-page handwritten apology. "They said they were homeless drug addicts and thought they could make a few extra dollars off of whatever was in the boxes," he tells CNN. "I could see the look on their faces, that they were very, very sad and they had been crying." He added that the note said, "Never in a million years would I have stolen from a sick 5-year-old myself and am ashamed of what I did," and that it was signed, "Two idiots." Moreira says he hopes the women get the help they need and that he doesn't plan on pressing charges. The Vicks have mixed feelings. "They are sorry because they got caught," Timmy's mom says, per WBOC, but his dad tells KIRO 7, "I definitely forgive them for taking the belts. I just hope they learn from this experience." Check out a pic of Timmy and his belt here. (More uplifting news stories.)