This is what I would do.
- I would disconnect his cable, and then carry him to his front door. I would knock on his front door and tell him, “Hi, You left that plugged in at mine.” I thought I’d bring this back to you. Please don’t confuse my outlet with yours again in future.” If he asked me about it, I would smile and then walk away. If he’s decent, I’ve saved my relationship with the person who lives next me.
- If he continues to steal from me, I would cut his cord and wrap it around his hood. He would have to sign a note asking him if he wants to escalate the situation. I won’t allow him to steal from me.
- If that fails, I will rewire the plug to kill his car. However, this is not advice. It’s not something you should do, but it’s what I would do.
Instead of calling number 2, I should call the cops. Number 2 is only that, number 2. In the long-term, it will cause more problems than solve. If you haven’t called the police before number 2, you should. And you shouldn’t do number 3 either. It is not clear what the legal implications are. I don’t think you can commit a crime to stop another crime anywhere. My luck is that it would set his house ablaze, kill his three children, his two dogs, his cat, and kill his wife. He would be the only survivor. He would cry for the jury as he described how hard it was to make ends meet with Timmy’s cancer treatment. I would then be able to turn big rocks into small rocks until I get very, very old.