Smash and Grab Caught!

Four days ago I received a letter in the mail notifying me that my own personal smash and grabber had been caught!

I had a million thoughts and questions run through my head when I read the letter....

1)Will he come for me after he is out of jail?
2)Was Sierra's MP3 recovered?
3)Maybe I won't have to find all those tunes my sister downloaded onto Sierra's MP3 player.
4)Will he pay me back on all the money I lost?
5)Did they find my hot pink purse?
6)Maybe my "To Do" list will still be in my purse!
7)Maybe there's another binky in my purse!

Well - in the letter I had to fill out a victim statement. There was a section where I could list what I wanted to have happen in the case he is convicted of this crime.

Now I've always been taught to be forgiving and not seek revenge, so thinking of what I might like to see happen as part of his sentence made me feel a little guilty.

On the other hand it would be ridiculous if there are no consequences! So I decided that as long as I get my money back the judge can do whatever seems lawful for the crime.

Then I started thinking about all the time - 7 full days - I spent of cleaning up after his crap! ...Calling banks, credit card companies, vendors where my cards were fraudulently used, endless time on the phone with investigators and police, gathering estimates, waiting in lounges for my car to be repaired. Kids were ignored, dinners were not made, toilets grew bacteria, and there was absolutely NO FUN to be had in the Franklin household for over a week!

Maybe I'd get a little creative for the judge. So then I added the following suggestion to my paper, "In addition to the penalties the judge deems appropriate (jail, prison, probation etc) I would like to see (Name) spend 7 days straight cleaning up dog crap along the Beus Canyon Trail and other trails in the area. Just like I spent 7 days cleaning up after his crap."

But then I started to feel a little guilty again. But I left the statement. Then I started thinking - well if I could suggest this guy to have to do anything, why not turn it into something good - yes, cleaning up dog crap is good community service, but maybe I could cause him to do something that would change his life!!!! Turn his life around!!!!!

So, I added the following statement, "Also, it would be the greatest desire for me to have him read The Book of Mormon and listen to the all of the LDS church missionary discussions, as I firmly believe that the preaching of Gods word has more effect upon the mind than anything else."

Then I referenced the following scripture Book of Mormon Alma 31: 5
5 And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.

Then I thought - well maybe it was meant to be for him to rob me so he could be introduced to the gospel!!!

So I'm curious - if you were in my shoes what creative sentencing would you do?
And do you agree with my creative sentencing?
I'll keep you posted on what the sentence ends up being.