Yes, you can advise him not to steal. I'd counsel him about stealing $50 worth of food, failing, landing in jail, and losing $500, $1,000, $2,000 of wages, paying $500 in fines, and bringing shame and embarassment on himself, his family, his children, and you. I'd go on to say, that to get our car back is gonna cost another $500 and inconvenience us even more. I'd finish up by telling him how important it is to OBEY all laws, live a life of integrity, and ask how he proposes to solve his problems.
Then I'd take my junk (the kids and pets, if I had any), and tell him I never want to see him again, because I'm not a thief and don't want to be drug down by his stupidity and dishonesty.
Do you really want to spend the rest of your life cleaning up his messes? You're not his mother. You didn't steal, why tolerate him stealing?
Sigh, but you won't do any of that. This isn't the first time he got bucked off the bull. So, tell him to keep his big mouth shut (he'll fail at that, too), plead not guilty, ask for a public defender, and try to get your family and friends to raise his bail money. Man, that $50 worth of almost stolen gruel is gonna cost about $2,500 to $5,000 before this gets fixed. He'll probably end up doing 90 days in jail, if he's lucky. Most shoplifters get cited and released. He ran, and made a big deal, a BIGGER deal!