Stephen Amaral never knew what hit him. No one really blames him for letting his guard down, except maybe the local finger-wagging set. Maybe it serves him right, they might think.

WKRN in Nashville, Tennessee, reports that Amaral, 54, was having a decent day around his home, about 100 miles east of Nashville. His neighbors, a husband and wife, showed up at his door and asked if the thirty-something wife might go swimming in Amaral’s pool.

Sure, no problem.

Then the wife asked the husband to go get her cigarettes. Amaral stayed behind. While hubby was gone, the wife asked Amaral if he minded if she swam naked.

Sure! No problem.

Or, as Amaral puts it, “I went and got her a towel, she dried off and all of a sudden she was soaking wet again.”

For twenty minutes, Amaral hung around, keeping an eye on things out by the pool. But the hubby was away retrieving cigarettes for his wife. He was in Amaral’s home, stealing a handgun, jewelry, and some medication. Police say the stolen items amounted to just under $1,200.

“They cleared me out and I just feel violated,” Amaral said. He said the handgun was a service revolver that he used while he was a policeman in Mississippi. It has sentimental value, he wanted to leave it to his kids, and he wants it back.

Presumably, Mississippi police never encountered a half-naked burglary team before.

No one should be robbed of their possessions. But the best part of the whole story, though, is how Amaral described his parting with the heretofore-naked woman.

“I escorted her outside and invited her to church, but she said she didn’t have time for that, she wasn’t ready for that.”

Police have identified the couple, but there have been no arrests made so far.