PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire police officer dispatched to the scene of a shoplifting incident paid the thief's tab after learning a woman stole the items to bake her child's birthday cake.
The Portsmouth Herald reports Officer Michael Kotsonis, a 19-year member of the Portsmouth force, responded to a call last week at the Ocean State Job Lots after a woman had stolen cake mix, shortening and "a couple things of frosting."
After investigating the theft and learning the woman's identity, Kotsonis went to her home to recover the items. It was there that he found that the woman was a mother who wanted to bake her child a birthday cake.
Kotsonis says the mother's actions weren't right, but he wasn't going to take away a child's birthday cake.
