Guest stole a creme brûlée torch

[Steven614]

I took a guest with no reviews. 4 days. The day before he was supposed to leave I found the screen to his bedroom off the window outside on the ground. I thought perhaps the guest, who is a young man, was sneaking someone in for sex.  He had what appeared to be a young gay guy and straight girl drop him off (I’m a gay man with no judgments, but I don’t want multiples and if so I expect my extra guest fee). Anyway, after he returned from a late late night and had to be woken up after check out time and left an hour late I noticed my creme brûlée torch was missing. I used it the past couple of days to light one of my Mrs Meyers candles and I know exactly where it was left.  So far no response from the guest.  I’m sure he took it.  I believe I spent 25 bucks or so on it.  Should I bother with a claim. I got paid about 248 for 4 days and it’s more about the fact that something was stolen than the amount. So now my issue is should I bother to go after the deposit. I’m a new host and I was rather counting on the review but this guest had no reviews and I worded it very carefully asking if perhaps he accidentally packed it. But I know for sure he took it.  Also I’ve never made a claim and I don’t know how much trouble the process is and if it’s even worth it for a $25 item. I was already putting aside 4 bucks from each guest for problems so I was thinking of covering it from this incident fund.  

[Gordon0]

$25?
Not worth the hassle-factor.
Move on, put it down to (a bad) experience.

[Julie143]

If you’re sure it’s him, leave him a bad review. 

[Steven614]

I’m 100 percent sure.  I had it out on the counter for lighting my candles. You know the jar candles.  I have one I’m currently working on that’s about 2/3 down that I’ve been using.  He came in last night and it was 3:10am on my blink security system. I saw him an hour later do a quick hop past the security cam which goes down the hallway to ensure guests don’t try to get into the master or leave with anything large and unwieldy and head to the kitchen and again a shadow an hour after that twice. Now the night vision from half way across the house didn’t catch him grabbing the torch but it’s easy to add 2 and 2. And the item isn’t there. I gave him 3 for communication. And in private message I told him that while I’m not going to go after a claim for it I’d like him to acknowledge it for peace of mind. The private message part of the review.  I found a very similar one for half of the 25 bucks I paid for the first so the replacement is only costing me 12.95.  Im just more annoyed that he stole it. I’m sure he’s got to fly back to NYC today and the young man is likely going to either have to leave it with a friend or toss it out because tea won’t let it fly.