Philadelphia shop owner gives teen vandals 2nd chance instead of pressing charges

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Sarah Stanley always thinks creatively when decorating the store windows for her boutique, Mico's Show Room, at Broad and West Grange in Philadelphia's Fern Rock neighborhood.

"We change out the mannequins and keep it cute," she said.

The business owner hoped the eye-catching clothing would draw window shoppers. Instead, on Wednesday, it drew window smashers.

"The whole window was missing. There was glass inside, glass outside," said Stanley.

During the incident, two teens smashed her front store window with a traffic cone.

It set off the alarm early Wednesday morning.

"1:30 in the morning, I had the Philadelphia Police Department call my phone and they told me somebody broke into my store," she said. "They (police) came in with guns, walking around, making sure the store is secure."

When police didn't find the two young vandals, Stanley decided she would.

"I threw it on my Instagram page and I asked for help," she said, adding that the post spread quickly as people re-posted it.

"They put it on another platform and it got like a million views," she told Action News. "It even got to the point where (people on social media were) threatening to do something to (the teen vandals)."

"Once I found out they were thinking about doing something to them, that's when my whole mindset changed," she recalled.

The shop owner decided she didn't want to punish the two boys, she wanted to teach them.

"Once I talked to the parents the first thing I asked was, 'Do they have a record?' They said 'No'. Once they said that, I said 'I don't want to set them up like that,'" she told Action News.

Stanley also talked to one of the boys, who said they were bored and randomly threw the cone at her window.

"My mindset changed from being angry to I've got to help," she said.

On Friday, the teens returned to her shop to work off the damage they caused.

"They have to come here and pass out flyers and clean," Stanley said.

She also added that the pair agreed to give back to the store for a certain period of time in exchange for Stanley not pressing charges.

"The window was $900," she said. "I had to pull it from my mortgage. I was supposed to pay my mortgage in two days."

Stanley hopes to do enough business to make up for it. She doesn't regret her choice to give two local teens a chance.

"I just feel like it was a bigger purpose," she said. "This was supposed to happen."

Action News Reporter TaRhonda Thomas spoke to the boys off-camera.

They say they're sorry for what they did, and they're grateful for a second chance.