A Thief in the Night ...

I had a few hundred dollars (and a few pounds) of left over allowance and per diem from my trip to London. I was accounting for the money, you see, and would soon be returning the balance of the liquidatable funds to my company. I knew exactly how much foreign currency I had. And I kept it in my wallet, ready to be returned as soon as the filed liquidation report was approved ...

A few days after I returned from the trip, I lost US$200 (2 US$100 bills) and about Php2,500 (part of the money that I had withdrawn from the ATM to pay for my electric bill). I was fairly certain it was my 19-year old maid who took the money.

... I sometimes leave my bag, with my wallet inside, you see, on the dining table in my home overnight, and in the course of the 8 months that this maid had been employed in my home, every so often (when I was careless), I would lose maybe Php500, Php1,000, at a time. Nothing big, really. Nothing you couldn't easily dismiss as money spent or money you simply didn't have in the first place. I was, however, suspicious ...

But because I discovered the loss of the US$200 bills maybe days after they were stolen, it would be difficult, I thought, to prove I had lost them at home so I couldn't confront my maid with the theft. In the days after the loss, I was careful to keep my bag inside my bedroom - well, at least until Friday night, when I simply forgot to do so. So on Saturday morning, upon waking, I counted the money in my wallet and discovered another US$100 bill missing. And this time, I knew I lost the money during the night ...

I confronted my maid - I had to - she was the only person, really, who was up before everyone else and so had the opportunity to take the money. The thief initially denied taking it. So I conducted a surprise search of her belongings, keeping her at all times out of her room. My gamble paid off; I found the money ... and more.

I was lucky, I guess, that my maid wasn't smart enough to think I that I would notice the loss of US$100 bills - valuable currency I don't usually carry around. Maybe, she also got greedy ... and careless ...

The newly-stolen US$100 bill I found in a small coin purse she kept on a rickety shelf, almost in plain view. I had discovered the theft too early, apparently, so she didn't have time to hide it. She initially lied that it was money her mother had sent her. But as her mother's not an OFW, and I called her a liar, she eventually admitted filching it from my wallet (She would lie many times over during my search -- insisting each time I found a new stolen article that that was absolutely the "last" thing I would find). I could've called off the search; after all, I had recovered my most recent loss. But I wanted the US$200 back, too ...

I was shocked at what I found inside her closet: a pair of southsea pearl earrings I thought I had misplaced some months ago, a watch, a UK£10 bill (which, of course, she couldn't deny taking from me), yes, the US$200 I lost the week before and US$200 more (lost on a previous occasion), and a wad of Php200, Php500 and Php1,000 bills totalling over Php30,000!! - her stash over the 8 months that she had been stealing from me (I found out later she was "saving" money to go to Japan ...). The money was carefully wrapped and sealed inside white letter envelopes and hidden amongst other papers inside her closet, behind her clothes.

But what was chilling were the small things of absolutely no value that she stole: hair clips, a small bottle of cheap cologne, plastic bead bracelets, a pair of lip balms I had bought in London, and (horrors) pictures of my family. I almost wept. That I felt violated in my own home is a gross understatement. I had actually housed this dangerous kleptomaniac where my 2 year old daughter eats and sleeps!

I reported the incident to the police but decided, partly out of pity, not to have the thief locked up. I didn't want to waste any more of my time on her anyway. And the trauma of discovering her betrayal had drained me of all energy to prosecute. We did, however, make it crystal clear to her that she could be arrested anytime ...

My husband asked me how I could have trusted this stranger with my things ... How could I have been so careless, so casual, so incautious? I retorted angrily, shouldn't I be able to act and move around freely in my own home?!

The officer-in-charge at the police station correctly wrote in his police report the charge against my maid: "Qualified Theft" - that is, theft committed with abuse of confidence or trust. There is a name for this crime because it happens. I can't believe I, a lawyer, forgot this.

I may never sleep soundly ever again.