Man Throws His Brother’s Family Out After He Sees 9-Year-Old Nephew Steal His Engagement Ring

May 06, 2022 by apost team

The subreddit "AITA" asks posters to "give us both sides of the story," and find out if you're right, or you're the jerk in the situation, which results in the retelling of stressful or strange situations at work, with friends, and sometimes with family. Moments when Redditors aren't sure if their actions, their language, or their decisions were justified given the circumstances. So they turn to the jury box of Reddit for the final say. 

In April 2022, a twenty-six-year-old Redditor with the username missingring_ wrote about a missing $4k engagement ring that had gone missing after his family started staying with him. He then discovered via a hidden spy camera that his nephew took the ring. The OP goes on to explain how the nine-year-old, "has a habit of stealing things. They’ve gotten in trouble a few times at stores because he’d leave with something in his pockets." The stealing seems to be a pattern and yet the OP noted that they don't "seem like they’ve done anything to stop it."

The OP struggles with how to handle his family, who had been staying at his house due to recent financial struggles. The OP explained how his brother had "lost his job and they weren’t gonna make it with all their bills including rent. He’s doing Uber [right now] while he searches for a job and they can move out." He also admitted that he was hesitant about the arrangement "because of [his] nephew specifically but family is family." As it turns out, his gut feeling was valid and this time there were real consequences to the stealing. 

The OP explained how he had "spent over a year saving up for" the perfect engagement ring. Until the right moment, he had it "hidden in [his] room under one of [his] drawers." A clever hiding spot; however, "last week [the OP] noticed it was out of its box." 

Given the nephew’s bad habit, the OP had gotten "one of those cheap spy cams" after he "found [the nephew] snooping in [his] room." In addition to installing it, he "told [his] brother to control his damm kid." When the ring went missing, the OP checked the footage, and "it showed [the nephew] was in there again when [OP] wasn’t home." OP explains how his "brother and his wife have yelled at [the nephew]" and yet the ring has still not reappeared.

The situation worsened when the child couldn't, or wouldn't, relocate the ring. The nephew "says he left it by the tv in the guest room but it’s not there." The parents "looked through all their stuff and his too" to no avail. The OP struggles to trust the situation given he knows "for a fact [his nephew is] lying about not having it because that’s the same thing he said about one of [OP] watches he took then ended up finding."

On the second day of searching the "brother tells [him] they can’t find it at all." So OP insisted that his brother relocate to a hotel and explained that "either they find the ring or he repays [him] the $4k [he] spent on it, if not they can’t stay here anymore."

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He also said how then his "brother got really upset” given how dire their situation is; however, the OP felt he couldn’t ignore the fact that his nephew “took something extremely important to [him] that [cost] a lot of time and money." He gave them "a week to leave [his] house if they don’t find the ring." 

Since the ultimatum, the OP's brother "won’t stop calling [him] heartless about letting something like this come between helping them out through a difficult time." The OP conceded that at least his "nephew keeps saying he’s sorry," but remained firm about not letting him stay. 

Clearly upset, the OP wrote: "it’s just hard right now to want them around. Don’t even know what to do about the ring and every time I think about it it just makes me so mad that it’s hard to care about their situation." 

Finally, he asked if what he did was wrong. Rather than handing down that decision, users alternatively suggested every hiding spot they could think of. Some did suggest small claims court or a police report; however, the most valuable commenters told the OP to check the drains. 

Excitedly, the OP posted an update revealing the ring was in the sink “in their guest room.” He immediately proposed and after his girlfriend said ‘yes,’ she additionally revealed that she was pregnant. While the proposal worked out for the dad-to-be, the situation with his family remains rocky. He revealed how he doesn’t “have the energy for them anymore, his problem is their problem and hopefully they get him help before it’s too late.”

 Where did you think the ring was? How would you have handled the nephew? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends, family, and fellow Redditors!