AITA for refusing to let a woman take for from my green house and pressing charges?

A Redditor (30M) is facing backlash from his new neighbor after catching her and a young teen stealing vegetables from his greenhouse. When confronted, the woman claimed she was friends with the owner, but upon realizing she was caught, she tried to leave with a bag of tomatoes and peppers.

The Redditor demanded she drop the stolen goods and called the police when she refused.The woman is now crying foul, calling him a “toxic man” and accusing him of being an asshole.

Read the full story below to see how this situation has escalated.

‘ AITA for refusing to let a woman take for from my green house and pressing charges?’

I (30M) live in a nice little neighborhood, everyone knows everybody, we all have our own space and many have flower gardens. I have a green house in my backyard that is visible from the street and behind a four foot picket fence.

We got a new neighbor, haven’t had the chance to meet them until today. I have a camera in my yard that notified me of movement near the green house so I went and checked and that’s when I found a lady and young teen picking tomatoes and peppers in my green house.

I raised my voice and asked what on earth they were doing and the woman says it’s fine she’s friends with the owner.
I asked if she wants to run that by me again cause in the owner and I don’t know who the hell they are.

When she realized she was caught she tried to leave with a bag full of vegetables, I told her she isn’t leaving with that food and she has two minutes to drop it and leave or I’m pressing charges.

She starts crying that she’s trying to feed her child and needs it and that she can’t afford this on her record but I didn’t feel like rewarding a theft and took the food from her and called the cops.

She’s telling everyone im an a**hole and a toxic man and though most are telling her she’s in the wrong, her friends on facebook are telling me I’m an a**hole and should be ashamed.. AITA?

Edited for information: when she was offered the chance to leave without police involvement she screamed at me and broke a pot that had some chives growing.

I don’t have her on facebook. However my name is on my mail box and have since put my account to private. If she had asked first, by all means I would have given her a couple peppers, tomatoes even some squash, but she didn’t.

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

Swegh_ −  NTA – she stole from you. She should have talked with you beforehand. The fact that she has the lie “I know the owner” ready to go makes me think she’s used to stealing.

TheyRuinedThemselves −  NTA, it was clearly a private greenhouse, she lied about knowing the owner, she filled a bag full, and then she complained about it a theft being added to her record.

She knew she was doing something illegal, completely her fault. She’s just mad she got caught.
Get a trespassing charge on her too. If you catch her again, charges will be worse for her. She deserves it.

Algebralovr −  NTA!. She was stealing from you! Assuming you are in the US, if she needs food assistance, there is SNAP (food stamps), the food handouts that are going on all over and churches who will giver her food.

USAF_Retired2017 −  NTA. She could’ve knocked on your door and asked instead of trespassing and stealing.

ImpossibleBop −  NTA. She’s trespassing and damaging and stealing your property – it’s not better because it’s food – its YOUR food. She didn’t even ask, and then had the nerve to lie. Lol no. Absolutely do not reward that behavior.

iven that she just moved into the nice area and evidently has internet, it’s unlikely she’s even needing food anyway. She’s probably just some entitled yuppie after some free organic veg rather than someone in genuine need.

Not that it’s your problem anyway.
But how do you know about her Facebook if you don’t know her? Did you add her or something? Anyway just block them.

RyotsGurl −  NTA .Start locking the greenhouse I guess

sara_c907 −  NTA. “can’t afford this on her record”
How about not giving the legal system another reason to file charges against you? It’s not that difficult to understand.

CocoButtsGoNuts −  NTA. She was stealing. If she was so concerned about having theft on her record then she shouldn’t have been a theif.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. If she had asked BEFORE she took the food, then I’d call you TA. But straight up trespassing and trying to steal? Uh uh. She deserved what she got.

ETA: I just reread my post and thought WTF was I thinking?? The woman would have been the AH whether or not she asked permission before taking the veggies.

FluffSheeple −  Nta. First of all, it is your own greenhouse and you can do with it as you please and besides, theft is kinda theft. Second of all, i feel that the whole “i am trying to feed my child” argument is just an excuse because if she was truly in a bad position she wouldnt have done the whole “i am friends with the owner, dont mind me” spiel.

She is now playing the victim card to everyone that will listen, so dont worry too much about it since they dont know your side of the story as well.

Was the Redditor justified in pressing charges, or did he overreact in a moment of frustration? How would you have handled the situation if you were in his shoes? Share your thoughts below!