Chilly Willy, thank you for posting how you truly loved your son. One of our sons, in his stupid teens, did something simliar, along with a friend. The two of them entered a summer hotel kitchen, and helped themselves to goody edibles in the wee hours of the morning, scaring the resident hotel-keepers.
We got a call from the local LE in the morning, and they were holding our son until the county LE came to get him. He was humiliated, and ashamed. But, while we could have "sweet-talked" him out (local clout, very small village), we didn't take that route.
He was taken to the county jail, and even thought we knew it was a weekend, we did "nothing" to get him released. We let him cool his 16 yr old heels until the local judge decided to hear his case. We did call a good friend lawyer, but made it clear that we wanted our son to learn up close and personal what a mess he had gotten himself into, and not to pull any strings for leniency.
It was a trivial offense, but we encouraged the lawyer dealing with him to lay it on thick, and we stayed away from "visitation" at the county jail, etc. He was released, since he wasn't a major danger to society, but we made sure he overheard our anxious "late-night" conversations about how we were going to come up with the money for his defense, etc.
He got the message, believe me. Became an upstanding citizen, and eventually enlisted in the military. Security police, and now in top-secret security employment.
The moral of all this? We have a few chances to let our teens know that there are consequences. If we protect them from these, we do not give them true love.
Love means letting go, not prolonging dependency.