Damn morality of shoplifting aside that should qualify as entrapment or something. At that point it's not about loss prevention, it's just petty revenge.
The cops where I live, a couple of times a year have a full on bike thief entrapment fest. It's disgusting. They get a bike that's worth a felonious amount of money (IDK, $1K?) and leave it UNLOCKED in an area where bikes have been reported stolen over the past few months. Then they hide out and arrest 100% homeless people who take it for a spin. Then they fucking brag about it in their fucking email newsletter that you can't fucking opt of unless you don't want important alerts about like, wildfires approaching residential areas and which evacuation site you've been assigned to. It will be 10 to 20 people each time, they list their full name, age, the fact that they are "a transient" and any other charges they got them on at the time, like paraphernalia possession. A fucking CAB. Fuck. FUCK.
You know what would stop these people stealing bikes better than this bullshit? SERVICES. This rich ass county can more than afford to care for our destitute human beings, who, by the way, are not the ones out there with bolt cutters and lock picks stealing your bike while you're at work. Those people know better than to fall for the bicycle honey pot trap.