None of the above, You can't assuage your guilt for taking what is not yours to begin with. It is not the company's job to be your personal ATM machine because of your financial difficulties. Regardless if this individual put back the money that he or she stole, trust was broken, and their is the definite reason to expect that the immediate superior of this person could quite possible lose their job. You can't rationalize this anyway to the degree that it comforts your apparent sympathetic feelings towards this person. But ask yourself this question, would you let a stranger or friend, and even a family member steal money away from you without your consent or prior knowledge for a significant amount of time? If the answer is yes, than you are as fool-hardy as the person mentioned above!