Because this woman is not in any way a threat to life, no threat whatsoever of doing physical harm, has NO weapon of any kind apparently on her person, I applaud the actions of this homeowner in holding the neighbor accountable for what she did.
I have to wonder if this larcenous neighbor had watched too many I Love Lucy reruns for her disguise inspiration.
This story personifies the idea that we trust people, and expect the best, but we do not do so stupidly. We trust, but we also take reasonable care to limit harm. We trust the good in people, but we do not ignore the potential for temptation to bring out the worst that exists in all people alongside the good. We especially should not do so when making a mistake about people could lead to the death or injury or threat to someone else, as in not running a background check on a private sale firearm purchaser.
I'm guessing right now that these neighbors wish they had checked out THEIR neighbor, about whom I assume they believed was a 'good person' a bit further. The only loss in their mistake was money, not life or limb; the only person who was injured was themselves, not someone else.
One might argue that the burglary victims were better able to see the real inner person as good or bad ONLY when she was in disguise.
From MSNBC.com:
Police: Woman donned mustache, beanie to rob neighbors
The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that the 31-year-old woman's disguise didn't fool anyone for long, though: On Thursday, she was charged with two counts of burglary and one count of theft for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars.
According to police, the victims had noticed several thousand dollars in cash missing from a box in their house, The Tribune reported. They checked the box a second time and found another $9,000 missing.
None of the people involved in the case were identified. It was not clear why the victims were holding such a large amount of cash in their house.
The victims had only given their house key to one person, a neighbor, and decided to set up a trap to see if she was the burglar, The Tribune reported. They put a small amount of cash in the box and set up security cameras, court documents state.
The security footage captured the woman, since identified as Manar Ahmad of Salt Lake City, in a very large man's suit, a beanie cap, and a fake mustache using the key to get into the home, the documents show.
Salt Lake City police searched her house and found her disguise inside, according to The Tribune.
All of her charges are second-degree felonies.