DR. WALLACE: I just found out that a very nice gift that my boyfriend gave me has turned out to be a stolen item! I actually saw a news report about it and now I'm really worried.

I confronted my boyfriend about this, and he told me that he had one of his friends who owed him a big favor acquire the item for him.

When I mentioned that the item was stolen, my boyfriend said the company it came from has insurance, so they will be "made whole" for the cost of the item so that there is really no loser to this situation.

I understand about the insurance issue and all, but I don't like the karma of going around with an item that I know was stolen. My best girlfriends are split on this issue, as some feel I should just keep it and others say that I should return it anonymously to the company it came from.

I think I know what you're going to advise, but I want to hear it anyway. I need someone to break the tie and to be honest; I'm already leaning in one direction pretty much anyway. — I Know It Was Stolen, via email

I KNOW IT WAS STOLEN: My advice about the item is going to likely be no surprise to you, but I'm also going to go a step further.

Starting with the item, in no way should you ever dream about keeping it. It was stolen and therefore you do not have a clean, fair and equitable title to it. You would never be able to be proud of it and you would always be looking over your shoulder to see if anyone would notice that it's stolen.

Returning it anonymously may be a good idea, but you want to be sure it gets back to the rightful owners. You may be able to mail or drop it off to a local police department if you're brave enough to do that.

The extra part of my advice is to consider the type of individuals you are both dating and hanging out with. This type of behavior is both illegal and immoral, and at some point, if you continue to associate with people who engage in this type of behavior, you might be caught up in something illegal that impacts your life and your freedom someday. This could be the warning sign you need to chart a new direction for your life.

SHE'S NEVER BEEN ON A SINGLE DATE YET!

DR. WALLACE: I'm 21 and in college and I have a sister who will turn 18 in about three months. When we were younger, the two of us girls would always have a lot of fun together.

We really liked to do various things to make a bit of money, so we started a babysitting service in our neighborhood and we recruited other teen girls to take jobs we found. We of course took a cut for booking the business in the first place.

Then we liked selling items to the public, so we baked cookies and made lemonade in the summer, and we sold a lot of these items!

Later, we got into arts and crafts, and we made a lot of small and interesting items that we sold at local flea markets and even to some antique shops in the downtown area of our city. We were quite successful!

Eventually, I got interested in dating boys, and so I had less and less free time for these ventures. But my sister carried on with them and even expanded them on her own after I stopped participating.

Now my mother is worried because my little sister is soon going to graduate high school without ever going on a single date! She has lots of friends, but she has not gone on one single formal date ever. My mother wants me to "set her up" on some dates, but when I mentioned possible dates to my sister, she said, "I don't have time for that right now."

Should my mother and I be worried about this? — No Dates for Little Sister, via email

NO DATES FOR LITTLE SISTER: I don't think you and your mother should be worried in any way. Your sister sounds like quite the entrepreneur and is likely very driven in this department.

Often, I've come across stories and examples of teenagers who did not show an early interest in dating but later caught up in a big way when the timing was right for them in their lives. Everyone has their own speed, game plan and ideas about the future.

Your sister sounds to me like an achiever who will eventually morph into what is known as a "late bloomer" when it comes to her dating and her personal social life.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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