Mom caught shoplifting for kids receives food from cop who nearly arrested her.

WSVN

Jessica Robles (right) was caught shoplifting at a Miami-area grocery store. She said she was trying to take the food to feed her children.

A single mom caught shoplifting food for her children received a tear-jerking surprise when her arresting officer recognized her as not just a woman breaking the law but a woman in need of help.

Jessica Robles and her three children, appearing with tears in their eyes and now food in their bellies, expressed their thanks this week after they say the woman in uniform came to their rescue.

It was late last month when Robles, down on her luck but desperate to feed her children, was caught rolling out a shopping cart with $300 worth of food from a Publix supermarket by Miami-Dade Police Officer Vicki Thomas.

WSVN

Instead of arresting Robles, Miami-Dade Police Officer Vicki Thomas spent $100 of her own money to buy the woman groceries.

When she asked if she had paid for all the food she was carrying, Robles confessed that she hadn't.
"I asked her, 'Why would you do that? What would make you do that?'" Thomas told WSVN. "And she said, 'My children are hungry.'"

WSVN

Robles’ 12-year-old daughter, Anais, cried as she offered her thanks to the officer who bought her family food.

Thomas pulled her aside and checked her criminal history. Finding nothing major, she charged her with a misdemeanor.