A forgiving business owner, inspired by Easter, has decided not to press charges against a thief who broke into his restaurant and instead offered him a job.
The restaurant owner seeks out Easter burglar
Carl Wallace, owner of Diablo’s Southwest Grill in Augusta, Georgia, was mugged shortly after 4 a.m.
on Easter Saturday, which was also his 45th birthday.
CCTV footage shows a man in a hooded tracksuit using a brick to smash the restaurant’s front window, before forcibly removing the cash register and shaking it to find there was nothing there.
Speaking about the incident, Mr. Wallace said: “Within 45 seconds, he was back out the front door and no money was taken. Really frustration and damage was the only thing done… we get woken up in the middle of the night, you have to run into the store, clean up the big mess and scramble to get the store to back open by 11 o’clock.
“It made me realize, as a robber, this guy’s really not doing a good job – there’s got to be other careen paths for this guy. I am a person who believes that everything happens for a reason… we are all just one good choice away from a completely different life.”
Despite the rude awakening on his birthday, later that morning, Wallace shared images of the theft on Facebook along with his personal phone number, asking the thief to “please swing by for a job application.”
He went on to write: “No police, no questions.
Let’s sit down and talk about how we could help you and fix the road you’re on.”
Since then, the message has been shared thousands of times and received international attention. Other local business owners contacted Wallace and shared CCTV footage suggesting that the same man had also broken into their properties.
Mr Wallace’s statements
“Maybe this guy has never been given that opportunity. Maybe he’s always been put down in life.”, said Mr Wallace.
He added, “Your first reaction is anger and frustration, then you think about Easter weekend and think, what is a better response? What would Jesus do? Would Jesus have somebody locked up or would he offer forgiveness?
“We all, as humans, have to have a level of forgiveness to each other and try to find a better way because there is so much hate in this world…
we don’t understand each other’s problems and challenges in life”.
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