Gerry The Giraffe

Say "hello" to Gerry the Giraffe. He has a twin brother, but his brother is not involved in this incident. Gerry volunteered to sit outside my work last night with a Learning Express apron around his neck to promote our store and bring in lots of young kids. (Our store is geared toward infant-14 yrs of age).
Last night, around 8pm-ish, as I was eating dinner, I received a phone call that Gerry was abducted but safely returned by mall security. I drove as fast as I could to Gerry's rescue to the store to find the thief (a 15-17 yr old boy) sitting in the back of a Garland squad car. The mall security informed me that charges have been pressed and he would not be allowed to come back to the mall within a 2 yr period as he was charged with mall trespassing. I told the officers that we were going to press charges against him. Gerry is worth $99.99 (so $100) and it would be one thing if he stole a $10 toy but Gerry is our most expensive plush we have in our store.
A few minutes later, the thief wanted me to listen to his side of the story....as opposed to the officers', the security and Gerry's side??? Okay, fine, but you will be wasting my time.
He kept saying how he has never done anything like this and he has never been the one to get in trouble for anything but he said it was dark and it was a spur of the moment thing. Okay, well now you have to learn your lesson from your spur of the moment thing. He even offered to help find the apron that was MIA (missing in action) if that would help drop the charges. Ummmm....no thanks but thanks for the offer! I told him I have a 15 yr old and a 4 yr old and if ANY of them were to get in any kind of trouble with the law, they would have to sit in holding for a night to learn their lesson. If I was to say, okay thanks for admitting you were wrong, thanks for owning up to your wrong doing, and thanks for offering to find the missing apron, charges will be dropped....what does that show to other kids who try to steal from my store? Nothing, it shows that that I will be just as forgiving and not press charges against them.
Today, I will be at work for 6 hours and let's just hope nothing AS exciting will happen today but I am hoping for a good day....especially now that Gerry is safe in our store and he will just, for now on, be sitting in a window staring at the outdoors wishing he were bringing in more kids.....cops say he can't stand outside anymore. :(