History Main / MistakenForThief

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store while prepping for [[TheInspectorIsComing Fairy Inspection Day]] since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for at the risk of losing Cosmo and Wanda, since, by [[CoincidentalBroadcast sheer]] [[ContrivedCoincidence coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a shoplifted walkie-talkie in his pants, and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was forced to go on the run in order to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] and was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* Subverted in ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and tribulations:'' Phoenix Wrigth has to cooperate with Luke Atmey, a detective wannabe, in a case of robbery against his archnemesis Mask☆DeMasque (which identity is the claim of Phoenix client, Ron DeLite). [[spoiler: But happens to be Luke Atmey himself the real culprit of the robbery, to have an alibi to his real crime, murdering his own blackmailer. This cleared Ron DeLite of his crime of robbery, but he is in fact the real Mask☆DeMasque, now free to go due to a Double Jeopardy law.]]

* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'': In “Neighbourhood Watch!”, Angela thinks that Mr. Monk is a burglar because he has some candlesticks, was wearing a black outfit including a balaclava, and had been digging. He’s not, though.
* ''Literature/BabySittersClub'': One mystery involves a client accusing Stacey of stealing a diamond ring. It turns out that a cat had accidentally knocked it under the carpet.

* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** Zigzagged in one "Ernie and Bert" skit. Bert finds cake crumbs on Ernie's plate, a piece of cake missing, and Ernie holding a fork so he presumes Ernie took it. Ernie makes up a story about a monster shaking the crumbs off the piece of cake and eating it, then giving Ernie the fork but then admits that he ate the cake. However, a monster shows up and does exactly what Ernie said with the second piece of cake.
** In one "Ernie and Bert" skit, Cookie Monster takes some cookies, but he was dressed as Ernie, so Bert thinks Ernie did it.

* Happens to Marinette 3 times in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''

** In "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", Mr. Krabs thinks Squidward stole his NumberOneDime and so Squidward quits his job and moves in with Spongebob. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the dime was in Mr. Krabs's back pocket but they start another argument when Squidward returns to work because Mr. Krabs believes Squidward put the dime in his pocket.]]

* ''LightNovel/GrimoireOfZero'': Albus finds a ring in the river and puts it on. The party then accepts a gift of tomatoes from someone. Later, when the party stops in a village, the villagers recognize the ring as belonging to a granny and accuse Albus of stealing it, and when they see the tomatoes, accuses them of stealing those too. The villagers refuse to believe their explanations and force them to fight their way out.

* ''Literature/{{Dunk}}': In chapter 5, Chad gets accused of stealing sunglasses, which kicks off the drama for the story.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', Daffy thinks someone in town stole his newspaper but really he'd just forgotten to renew his subscription.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', a trip to Old New York leads to Fry finding out that his hidden seven-leaf clover was missing and that a statue wearing it that looks like his brother Yancy leads Fry to believe that after he went missing, Yancy stole the clover and Fry's name. During a grave robbery to reclaim the clover however, [[spoiler:it's revealed that the famous late Philip J. Fry was actually Yancy's son, who was named after him out of endearment and was gifted the clover which Yancy found by complete accident. After Fry discovers this, he leaves the clover behind.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store while prepping for [[TheInspectorIsComing Fairy Inspection Day]] since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for at the risk of losing Cosmo and Wanda, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a shoplifted walkie-talkie in his pants, and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was forced to go on the run in order to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] and was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''Film/TommyBoy'': Tommy and Richard follow [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ray Zalinsky]] into a business building, and they split up looking for him. Tommy goes into a bank and yells [[ThatCameOutWrong "Listen up, this'll only take a second!"]], and everybody immediately assumes he's trying to hold up the bank, with the security guards sliding their pistols over. [[OhCrap Tommy realizes he's screwed up and promptly flees]] (fortunately, they find Zalinsky and try to talk to him before being dismissed). However, Tommy soon takes advantage of the situation when he sees a news crew that was sent to report on the alleged hold-up and he gets them to follow him back to Zalinsky's office.

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': In "The J-Team", [[GondorCallsForAid Jade puts together the eponymous team comprised of characters Jackie previous encountered]], one of whom is Mexican lucha wrestler El Toro Fuerte. Uncle thinks El Toro is a thief because he is wearing his trademark mask. When Jackie tried to correct him, he smacks him, thinking he's saying the wrong thing about him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store while prepping for [[TheInspectorIsComing Fairy Inspection Day]] since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a shoplifted walkie-talkie in his pants, and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was forced to go on the run in order to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] and was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store while prepping for [[TheInspectorIsComing Fairy Inspection Day]] since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a walkie-talkie in his pants, reading "not paid for", and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was forced to go on the run in order to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] and was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a walkie-talkie in his pants, reading "not paid for", and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was forced to go on the run in order to [[ClearMyName clear his name]] and was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items he wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a walkie-talkie in his pants, reading "not paid for", and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting at a local department store since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, since, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]], some of the items Timmy wished for were shoplifted from the store. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, since Timmy found a walkie-talkie in his pants, reading "not paid for", and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy was eventually able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, by [[ContrivedCoincidence sheer coincidence]]. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy is able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' episode "Inspection Detection" has Timmy getting accused of shoplifting since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for, by [[ContrivedCoincidence]]. [[spoiler:The real perpetrator is TheBully, Francis, and with [[AdultsAreUseless his parents]] and [[PoliceAreUseless the police]] being too stupid to believe him, Timmy is able to prove it when Cosmo shapeshifts into a security camera and [[CaughtOnTape catches Francis on video stealing a tub of lard]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had an episode based on this when Timmy gets accused of shoplifting since he can't explain where he got everything he wished for.