No good deed goes unpunished, The Final Chapter

The ironic story of  how Doing a Good Deed can come back to bite you in the butt months later.

      Not being fond of bill paying, I write several months of rent checks at one time, post-dated to match the arrival of the Welfare Check (mom's words). I dutifully logged 1958, 1959, 1960, wrote 1961 & missed logging it. This will come into play later.
     In July, I became friendly with a young woman at work. Her car was stolen and recovered with damage, including the loss of the car seat for her darling baby girl. I reached out to my friends. The wonderful people in my circle donated money to repair her car and a car seat to replace the lost. Wisely, I handled the payments to the auto repair shop. I brought her into my home to get the on-line paperwork completed to be sure she had proper pre-natal care, since she was pregnant again. We discussed the trip to Planned Parenthood we would be making after the birth of baby #2. A couple weeks later, she needed to follow up, so I put her in front of my computer, on my desk and went about my house stuff.
      During a routine check of my bank account, I noticed a check for $200, which I had not written. Printed the check out - SURPRISE. Made out to this young woman, in her hand writing. Just not signed. Luckily, my bank had not disbursed the funds. That check went back to the poor sap who accepted and paid $200 for an unsigned check. According to my check register, checks #1961 & #1962 were missing. 1962 was fraudulently written, #1961 unaccounted for. So a Stop Payment was put on it.
     Come August/September:  mysterious charges on my debit card. I live alone, rarely is anyone else in my office. It seems this same young woman had copied down the info for my card (conveniently FOR ME taped to the monitor). I now know she has T-Moblile, is fond of North China food and Pizza Hut. Cancelled the card, was reimbursed by the bank, less fees, for the stolen funds.
     Final insult to injury: Check #1961 was actually written to my long-suffering landlords. Who had been so understanding about holding the check until it the money was there. And It Was The Stop Payment Check. Let's add another couple fees (mine & theirs) to the price of doing a good deed.
     No, I did not file charges on the stolen check. I could not have it on my conscience that her daughter would be thrown into the system if she went to jail. Someone will do it, sometime soon I'm pretty sure. It just won't be me.
     This will not stop me from trying to help someone else. I just will be be MUCH MORE CAREFUL about who and where.
     The framed plaque "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" (a remnant of a real estate deal) is out again.