After news broke that Goodwill in East Naples, Florida had fired an employee and had him charged with
felony theft for giving (ill-advised) discounts to people he believed were needy, the story went viral.
It seems Goodwill has reconsidered:
In a statement, the organization said:
"We have determined that the individual's actions we not for personal gain, but rather for the benefit of others. Because this is a violation of our policy we recognize that the former employee's termination is an appropriate action but we are not pursuing criminal charges."
Naples attorney Jerry Berry took Anderson's case pro-bono.
"I don't think anyone out there believes Andrew should be prosecuted for this," Berry said. "To call him a 'criminal' is wrong."
Berry says he'll call prosecutors on Monday. He is optimistic the state will drop the charges.
It's a shame it got this far, but good for the them for changing course and taking a more reasonable approach.