History Main / MistakenForThief

If it ''was'' stolen, it could have been an animal like a dog or a bird (sometimes a ThievingMagpie), or in some cases, a monkey who stole it. If the thief was a human, they might have been trying to frame the wrongly-suspected person, especially if they're the wrongly-suspected person's rival, but sometimes they just wanted the item and feel bad when they get caught.

* In volume seven of ''LightNovel/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'', Seigi is accused of stealing a very valuable ruby and is arrested on a cruise ship. Richard is basically held hostage while he goes off with Vincent to sort out the crime.

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[[folder: Films, Live-Action]]
* In the 1949 version of ''[[Film/AliceInWonderland1949 Alice in Wonderland]]'', Alice [[TheScapegoat is framed]] for the theft of the Queen's tarts and most all of the inhabitants of Wonderland are led to believe she is guilty.

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[[folder: Literature]]

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''A Dangerous Path'', [=ThunderClan=] finds evidence of prey being killed on their territory. Bluestar assumes it's being stolen by [=WindClan=] (to the point of accusing them publicly at a Gathering), due to her paranoia/dementia and the fact that one particular example of the prey was the remains a rabbit found on that end of the territory. Fireheart knows that it's likely a dog catching the prey due to other evidence, and arranges for Bluestar to meet with [=WindClan=]'s leader to discuss it before she can lead an attack on them.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': In "Touchstone of Ra", the students go to an Ancient Egyptian themed museum, where an artifact gets stolen, put in Eddie's bag, and confiscated by the teachers. In reality, a girl named Sophia was the culprit but she and Eddie were friends so Eddie blames Dexter because the latter liked the object. Only Patricia, who doesn't like Sophia, takes Dexter's side.

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* In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_o-rLu4MKE Lincoln Loud's Treehouse Mystery]]'', an episode of an official "podcast" based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lincoln [[ButtMonkey Loud]] and [[LovableCoward Clyde]] [[BestFriend McBride]]'s hammock goes missing. Lincoln is suspicious of all his sisters, but especially [[PassionateSportsGirl Lynn]] because she once stole the batteries from the TV remote, [[ThePigPen La]][[MsFixIt na]] because she once stole his macaroni and cheese, and [[PrincessPhase Lola]] because she's [[BrattyHalfPint a bit of a brat]] and admitted to hiding her vegetables. It turned out that the real thief was [[spoiler: Mr. Grouse, the cranky neighbor.]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

Usually, the item will turn out to either have been stolen by someone else or not stolen at all. If it wasn't stolen at all, it might have been accidentally knocked over by a person, animal or the wind or someone might have accidentally thrown it out or forgotten where they put it. Alternatively, the person suspected of theft ''was'' in possession of it, but they'd only meant to borrow it (and borrowing something without asking, while inadvisable, is still not stealing if you return it). Sometimes, someone took it but for a relatively good reason and were planning to return it (for example, a teacher confiscated a student's toy but that was only because toys weren't allowed in class, or someone took a piece of clothing but only because they wanted to wash it.)

* In ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_o-rLu4MKE Lincoln Loud's Treehouse Mystery]]'', an episode of an official "podcast" based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', [[{{Nerd}} Lincoln]] [[ButtMonkey Loud]] and [[LovableCoward Clyde]] [[BestFriend McBride]]'s hammock goes missing. Lincoln is suspicious of all his sisters, but especially [[PassionateSportsGirl Lynn]] because she once stole the batteries from the TV remote, [[ThePigPen La]][[MsFixIt na]] because she once stole his macaroni and cheese, and [[PrincessPhase Lola]] because she's [[BrattyHalfPint a bit of a brat]] and admitted to hiding her vegetables. It turned out that the real thief was [[spoiler: Mr. Grouse, the cranky neighbor.]]

** In "Rodrick Rules", Mrs Craig(the English teacher)'s dictionary goes missing and some bullies think that Corey Lamb and Peter Lynn (two verbose boys) stole it. [[spoiler: It turns out that it wasn't stolen, Alex Aruda had simply been using it to study.]]

* ''Series/SanfordAndSon'': In "Have Gun, Will Sell", after Fred and Lamont scare away a burglar, they try to pawn the burglar's pistol at the local pawn shop, [[OneDialogueTwoConversations but the owner thinks they're trying to rob them]].

* Not in the book itself, but in adaptations of ''Literature/ALittlePrincess'', people often discover things secretly hidden in Sara's room and assume she stole them.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' after a tense scene following a major incident where [[spoiler:Shota Aizawa points out that hadn't the whole country been focusing on All Might's retirement, about 90% of the class would've been expelled for participating in an unlicensed rescue of Bakugo or just being privy to it]]. To lighten the mood, Bakugo grabs [[ShockAndAwe Kaminari]] and drags him behind a bush, causing an electrical discharge to appear and the latter emerging with his brain fried, much to the humour of the class. Bakugo then hands Kirishima a large wad of money, who freaks out thinking that he just mugged Kaminari for that. Bakugo angrily asserts that this is his ''own'' money, to pay him back for that night-vision scope he bought and lost in the previous incident.

* ''Series/MimpiMetropolitan'': In episode 3, Alan decides to take a bath after falling onto a pile of manure. Long story short, he decides to take clothes from the clotheshorse outside while wearing a sarong to cover his head. Unfortunately, it makes him look like a stereotypical thief and Pipin screams for help, resulting in a beaten up Alan.

* In Latinamerica, the sitcom ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'' comes to mind. In some sketches, El Chavo is accused of robbery and forced to leave the vecinidad because some of his neighbors' items, like irons and dishes, appear inside his barrel (put there by the real thief). In the end, everything ends well, but considering the sitcom is a comedy, it drives the show in a dark and sad territory to touch the audience about poverty and injustice.

* ''WebVideo/StacheBros'': In "Wario's Robbed", after Wario and Waluigi amass a billion dollars, Waluigi takes all of it with him after Wario tells him about the possibilities of having so much money. Wario is sad thinking Waluigi robbed him, but it turns out [[spoiler:Waluigi was just depositing the money into a bank account]].[[/folder]]

* In ''The Singing Bell'', Inspector Davenport is talking about the risks of using a MindProbe without enough solid evidence and mentions that recently, a bank cashier had to be paid a compensation because of being probed for suspicions of theft, when the evidence was actually because he'd had a fling with a married woman.

If the wrongly-suspected person tries to say that they didn't steal, [[CassandraTruth the accuser likely won't believe them]], although there will often be one, two, or several people who are usually close friends of the false suspect and/or know that the person wouldn't do it and they usually try to help the person prove they didn't steal it.

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* In ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'', the fourth game has Anna think that Matt and his party stole the Greenwood Jewel, but they didn't. [[spoiler: In actual fact, some cats stole it so that they could summon Catgod.]]

* One of the side effects in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' involves Shepard helping a quarian girl who'd been accused of stealing a volus's credit chip when said volus had actually just left it in a shop. The volus concocts an increasingly elaborate (and wildly impossible) tale about how she pick pocketed him before you clear her, then refuses to apologize afterword, potentially leading to Shepard delivering an ear-blistering dressing down for his behavior.

* In ''The Singing Bell'', Inspector Davenport is talking about the risks of using a MindProbe without enough solid evidence and mentions that recently, a bank cashier had to be paid a compensation because of being probed for suspicions of theft, when the evidence was actually because he'd had a fling with [[YourCheatingHeart a married woman.]]