Former professional shoplifter rips NYC's plans for social service kiosk: 'Don't think I'd have batted an eye'
Pierceon Bellemare said he might have stopped if the kiosk gave fentanyl or money
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A former professional shoplifter panned New York City's plans to install social service kiosks in stores to incentivize shoplifters not to steal.
Pierceon Bellemare said if he was shoplifting and saw a kiosk on the way out the door, he wouldn’t stop.
"If the kiosk provided fentanyl or money, I might stop. But if there's a pamphlet for social services, I don't think I would have batted an eye at that," he explained on "Jesse Watters Primetime" this week.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bellemare shared that he shoplifted because it fed his drug addiction and the lifestyle he was living. He added that if someone gave him a welfare check and a place to stay to incentivize him to stop the criminal behavior, he would find a way to work around the system and use the money to feed his addiction.
FORMER FENTANYL ADDICT DISCUSSES ADDICTION, RECOVERY: ‘THESE DRUGS WILL SINK THEIR CLAWS INTO YOU’
A vape and rubber ties lie next to the addict Rodriguez woke up. The cap to a needle can also be seen. All are common sights in Kensington. (Fox News)
"I would have taken it and I would have figured out a way to use those resources in order to then continue to feed my addiction and turn it into basically monetary value. And until I was then apprehended and served consequences, which were jail time and a lot of jail time and facing prison time--that's when I was really able to look at my life and realize I don't think I'm going in the right direction," he told host Jesse Watters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Bellemare said he turned his life around after serving time in jail and has been sober for six years.
The former professional shoplifter spoke out against soft-on-crime policies, explaining that they don’t work.
"I don't think there's a lot of places now where we are forcing detoxes in places where people can get the help that they need versus just a Band-Aid on a symptom that we've been seeing for decades," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FORMER DRUG ADDICT CALLS FOR INCARCERATION WITH INTENTION: ‘HARM REDUCTION IS INACTION’
He added that his drug addiction started as "just partying and having fun."
"Then the next thing you know, I have a needle in my arm and I can't stop doing it because I'm physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually addicted," he recalled. "And the only way that I was able to stop was having be put away in a place where I had no access to those substances for a certain amount of days so that I could clear my head and work a program and get my feet going."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Watters asked if there was a spiritual component to the growing number of addicts across the country.
Shoplifters in Washington D.C. were caught on video laundry detergent in the middle of the day. (Fox News)
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"My personal experience is, yes, I believe that we are living in a world where that has been ignored and there is something deeper that I think we need to look at," Bellemare responded. "It seems like we're living in a very self-centered and self-seeking world. And the moment that I realized that there's things [sic] other than me on this planet, and I'm not a victim and I have the power of choice to be a better person, that's when I was able to really move forward."