Having your stuff stolen really sucks. Something is yours, you own it and then poof — it’s gone. One Boston graphic designer was so sick of his computers being stolen, he installed security software on his Macbook Pro just in case and ended up finding out where his laptop had wandered off to. But instead of punishing the new owner of this third stolen piece of electronics, he decided to do something positive.

While the man watched, the teenager who had his computer checked out innocent enough stuff like cartoons, which he could see using the security software, reports WBZ-TV.

“I watched for about four days. I was giving information to police, and the whole time he didn’t know this was going on at all, that I could see what he was doing,” he explained. The whole time, he was in touch with police and the computer was tracked to a family living in the projects.

Instead of going after the parents, who had bought the stolen computer for their college-bound son, the man decided to turn this unfortunate situation into one of opportunity for the young man.

“I went from a high to a low pretty quickly,” he says. “I felt bad for the family.”

He crowdsourced his online friends and rustled up about $900 in just three days, and says he’s going to use that money to help the family buy the teen a computer of his own. In the meantime, he’s still hoping that thief will get caught or at the very least, stop stealing his stuff.

Boston Man Tracks Down Stolen Laptop, Helps Teen Found Using It [CBS Boston]

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