I stole over $20,000 in a very creative way, and got caught

When I was in middle school, my mom had an idea for me to go door to door selling holiday wreaths, and I was all for it. She signed me up, paid the $20 to get the wreaths and bags to sell them in, and I set off. I don't remember how many wreaths I was supposed to sell to get my $20 back, but I remember I had like 30. <br><br>The neighborhood I was in was a middle class one with some bigger houses and Christmas lights everywhere. I had my bag full of wreaths and I set off. I went house to house and had no luck. I came back the next day and the next, but nobody was buying these things at the price I was supposed to sell them for. <br><br>So, I got a brilliant idea. There were several houses in this neighborhood that had Christmas lights up, but no wreaths on their doors. I went to one, took one of my wreaths and placed it on the door. I made sure it looked better than whatever they had previously done and I made sure it was secure. I walked down and made sure the one next to it also looked nice and secure. Then, I returned to the same house the wreath came from, switched wreaths, and kept going. <br><br>I was really good at this. I was making sure the wreaths looked better than whatever the homeowner had put on there, I made sure they were secure and I hit as many houses as I could each day. At the end of the weekend, I had 6 wreaths left. I took 5 and flipped them, putting them under my arm, and came home. <br><br>I was so excited. I had stolen these things, and I had made a pretty good profit. I still had 1 to get my money back for, so I did that. I never told my mom what had happened. She was just happy that I had sold all of them. <br><br>The next year, she signed me up again, but this time, the company that was selling the wreaths was different. They had more variety, but the ones that I was selling were similar to the ones that I had stolen. I recognized them immediately. I went through the training, and off I went again. <br><br>This time, I had around 30 wreaths to sell again, but the same thing happened. Nobody was buying them. I had the same idea, but I realized it was a little bit more complicated. I still did it, but not nearly as many. At the end of the weekend, I had 12 left. I was confused. <br><br>The following year, she signed me up again, and the same thing happened. Except this time, I had around 6 wreaths to start with, and I only had 2 left by the weekend. I still stole some, but I realized what was happening. People who had bought wreaths the previous years were still using them, so they were buying more. The ones they hadn't used were stolen by me. <br><br>After that year, my mom refused to sign me up again. I'm pretty sure someone recognized one of their wreaths, on one of their doors, and reported it. I should also note, I stopped stealing the wreaths at some point. The homeowner's who had originally stolen them, started to like them, and kept them. They had become decorations, and the owners didn't remember where they had come from. <br><br>This was a long post, but I hope you got a little amusement out of it.