how to handle a thief?

[tld221]

i'm sure ive talked about this before on GC, but i really need some (current) advice on this. (sorry this is long)

my brother, we'll call him "Breeze" (a nickname of his by his friends, pretty approprite given the scenario i am about to set up). he's 17 and tends to be in and out of trouble. not really the "in and out of jail" kind but general f*cking up kind. most recently, he got kicked out of his Job Corps program and was sent home about a month ago. so now he's not in school nor working... has no GED/diploma to his name. doing basically nothing.

since Breeze has come home, things turn up missing. little things but mostly money. most recently i recalls $10 gone from my wallet. this morning my mother went off about $20 missing from her purse. she ripped us all new ones over it at the crack of dawn.

to give you some backup, in my house, there are 5 of us - my mom, me (the oldest), my sister (who is away at college but home on the usual breaks and then some weekends), and my 2 brothers. the older of the 2 is Breeze, and then there's my youngest brother. clearly i have no reason to steal - i work and im living rent-free: i cant ask for anything more. my sister, she's in school and her character - she doesnt have the heart to steal, much less from Mom. now i wouldnt put it past my youngest brother, but he would crack after so many attempts and given our financial situations, i am less likely to think he'd take money. he's done it before, but this particular time, im gonna go with no.

now some characteristics about Breeze: his presence is just that - a breeze, kinda in and out the area. not much noise, if at all. he can slip in and out the room and the house and we rarely notice. it bothers the f*ck outta me cause on one hand i can hear him in the background doing something but not exactly what. i get all paranoid and find myself checking up on him like "what is he up to?" he isnt much of a talker, and when we confront him about this thiefing, he either a. shrugs it off and goes about his day, or b. denies it flat out.

so we all assume it is Breeze taking our money, loose change and other belongings (ie. my brother's school bus pass, which is pretty costly). what he spends it on - who knows. i wouldnt be surprised if it was drugs or food or something. its definitely not material, cause he has no fancy new clothes or anything. maybe smokes? he's the only one who DOESNT have a story to tell about a missing item, and when the conversation comes up, he's silent Bob all of a sudden. anyway, what he spends it on is secondary to the issue that this sh!t actually happens.

the most we as a family do, is hide our stuff. but tht's annoying - why hide your stuff in your own home? and what good is it if he goes around snooping and will find it? my temporary solution is to buy everything on plastic and never bring cash home, but that backfires when i absolutely need cash.

there are bigger issues that feed into this, but right now i need some viable solutions because this is ridiculous. who knows what else will turn up gone next.