One of the ways of doing that is by condoning your kid or ward when involved in crime. Cody Santiago's foster mother is a living example of those who believe that such injunction is worth practising.
That is how Police were able to arrest a suspect in the Brooklyn robbery of 78 year-old, wheelchair-bound Catalina Mateo.
The New York Daily News reports the suspect is 18-year-old Cody Santiago.
Surveillance footage from Wednesday July 20th shows a man stealing Mateo's purse on the corner of Wyckoff Avenue and Bleecker Street in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Cody Santiago, 18, was sitting on a couch in the living room of his family's Bushwick home Tuesday night when the TV began to broadcast the video of the heartless heist, his family said.
"I said, 'Cody, why did you do that?'" recalled his mother, who did not want to give her name. "She's an old lady."
Santiago said it wasn't him.
"I said, 'Yes, that's you, Cody. Don't deny it!'" the mom said.
The family urged Santiago - who was adopted by the family when he was 3 - to turn himself in to the police. But the troubled teen packed his bags and left instead.
Around the same time, the NYPD managed to identify Santiago and collared him when he came home Wednesday night.
CBS News reports that Santiago, who lives just two blocks from the scene of the robbery, has two prior arrests for theft and sex abuse.
And, according to the family, Santiago also has a history of mental problems and recently stopped taking his medication, going on a drinking, pot-smoking binge instead.
Mateo's purse held $15 and blood pressure medication.
"I'm handicapped. He didn't accept my situation," Mateo said. "That could happen again, to me or somebody else."
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