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When you have friends who you’ve known for a long time, the chances are you’ve supported your friends through some hard times, and vice versa. Because life is rarely simple, and plenty of us go through a lot of turmoil during the time that we’re on the earth. And during those hard times, we are lucky if we have good people around us that we can lean on, and where would we be without our friends?

The woman in this story totally understands that, and was there for her friend, even allowing her to stay with her while she was going through some life challenges. But when things went downhill, she had no choice but to ask her to leave. Then, when the person she’d thought was a friend committed a crime against her, she called her cops. Now, her ex-friend is facing the consequences, and the folks around them think that the victim was in the wrong for not just letting it go.

Read on to find out what happened here.

AITA for getting my ex friend arrested?

About a month ago I let a friend of mine surf my couch for a few days while she was in between living situations.

She’s got some well-documented mental illness that I thought was being properly medicated before I allowed her into my home.

She was actually completely unmedicated, and after one relatively good night, she proceeded to do/say a lot of out of pocket stuff that ultimately led to me asking her to leave my home a few days later.

She left, but returned to my home when I wasn’t there and stole close to $1800 worth of belongings from my house (she used a neighbor and an illegally copied key to get into the building.)

Let’s see what happened next.

My neighbors caught her on their security camera going into my house and leaving with a backpack full of my belongings.

I called the police, and after an exhaustive search, she was found and arrested.

I offered her to return my belongings and I would drop the charges – and she returned the backpack but claimed to not have any of my other belongings as well as adamantly denying entering my house.

I proceeded to press charges and she’s now being held in police custody until the trial.

And this is having some major repercussions.

Her family is LIVID, and they think that I should drop the charges because I got the backpack back.

When I told them that the backpack was literally $20 out of the many expensive things she took from my home, they responded by telling me how my pressing charges is ruining her life, including but not limited to custody/visitation rights for her four children, and getting accepted into a special boarding house for people who have severe mental illness.

I feel like I’m in the right for wanting to see her punished for what she did, but her family and some of my friends are saying that I shouldn’t be destroying her life because of one mistake.

AITA?

This isn’t ‘one mistake.’ This is an actual crime that she has been caught red-handed for but is denying, alongside betraying her friend’s trust.

The truth is, this woman has a severe mental illness but hasn’t been taking her medication.

So at this point she needs help, and however severe this might seem, it is actually putting her in a position where she can recover, and where her children can stay safe.

Let’s see what folk on Reddit had to say about this.

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This person thought her family were all talk, but had no intention of actually helping her themselves.

While others thought that the woman was the only person destroying her own life.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose family wants her to spend way too much time redoing paintings to make them match.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought that this was the right move for everyone involved.

The truth is, this woman chose not to take her medication. Or, if she wasn’t in a fit state to make the decision to take her medication herself, she should have been given the care and support to ensure that she was taking it. Because the decision not to take the medicine that she has been prescribed to help her cope with her mental illness is the reason that she’s in this position. If she was taking her medication she would never have been asked to leave her friend’s place to begin with, and she likely wouldn’t have felt the inclination to steal thousands of dollars worth of her friend’s stuff.

Being a friend and having empathy towards someone with a mental illness does not mean allowing them to commit literal crimes against you without complaining or reporting them to the police. And unless she gets the stuff back she should absolutely move forward with pressing charges. And as unfair as the woman’s family might think this friend is being, she is actually the only one who is truly helping her, because she is the only one whose actions are meaning that she will finally get the help that she needs.

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Author

Kyra Piperides

Kyra Piperides, PhD | Contributing Science Writer

Dr. Kyra Piperides is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter, specializing in Science & Discovery. Holding a PhD in English with a dedicated focus on the intersections of science, politics, and literature, she brings over 12 years of professional writing and editorial expertise to her reporting.

Kyra possesses a highly authoritative background in academic publishing, having served as the editor of an academic journal for three years. She is also the published author of two books and numerous research-driven articles. At TwistedSifter, she leverages her rigorous academic background to translate complex scientific concepts, global tech innovations, and environmental breakthroughs into highly engaging, accessible narratives for a mainstream audience.

Based in the UK, Kyra is an avid backpacker who spends her free time immersing herself in different cultures across distant shores—a passion that brings a rich, global perspective to her writing about Earth and nature.

Connect with Kyra on Twitter/X and Instagram.