Puppet Combo vibes, which is always welcome. Love the VHS aesthetic, appreciate the mini-game of body checking the thieves, enjoy the fact that there's multiple endings and dialogue tree.
Not sure how I'd address this, but you can just sort of chill at the front door and basically auto-nab the thieves. Also, it'd improve replayability if the thieves were randomized (i.e. more characters and a 50/50 chance for them to try to steal or not).
Anyway, fun game, thanks for the experience!