Yeah the thief is clearly an awful person. The parents are also bad. The only character in this story that deserves empathy is the baby as he will be doubly harmed by having awful parents who just suffered a dire financial set back because of the actions of the thief.

That being said it is easy to commend the thief, even though we shouldn’t, because we automatically have that empathy for the baby and disdain for the parents for being so irresponsible.