CHARLESTON, SC — A 47-year-old man was arrested Saturday after breaking into a closed Belk department store overnight to steal a single necktie for his father, a crime made unusually poignant by the $40 in cash and handwritten note he left on the counter reading, “Sorry. For my dad. He likes blue. — A son.”

Marcus Eldridge Coyne allegedly entered the store on King Street through a service door at approximately 2 a.m. Security footage shows him walking directly to the menswear department, spending several minutes deliberating between ties, selecting a navy blue silk tie priced at $34.99, and then walking to a register, where he left two twenty-dollar bills and the note before exiting the way he came.

The Most Honest Burglary in Charleston

Investigators say Coyne took nothing else, despite passing displays of significantly more valuable merchandise. The note, the cash, and the precision of the theft led detectives to describe the case as “the most considerate breaking-and-entering we’ve processed all year.” Coyne was identified via the store’s security cameras and arrested at his home, where the tie was found, still in its packaging, wrapped in newspaper as a gift.

“He overpaid. He left a five-dollar tip on a stolen tie. He apologized in writing. I have arrested a lot of people. This is the only one who made me feel bad about it.” — Det. Olivia Pressley, Charleston PD

Coyne told officers he had lost his job and couldn’t afford a gift but “didn’t want to just take it without paying.” He was booked into the Charleston County Jail on charges of burglary and criminal trespass — charges that stand regardless of the cash left behind. His JailReport.lol booking has been filed under our Wholesome Criminal tag, where commenters have started a fund for his bail. Belk has declined to press for restitution. Bond was set at $2,000. His father has reportedly received the tie.