CHINA SPRING, Texas (KXXV) — "It's been a very secure neighborhood or area as far as I know," said China Spring resident Terry Binder.
Terry Binder has lived in China spring since 2015. Binder said he doesn't see crime happen often on his side of town.
But he admits he hears the stories from neighbors.
"We'll have periods of times that we might have a rash of break-ins or car break-ins, but not usually for six to eight months at a time," said Binder.
Right now, the manager of Keith Ace Hardware on Salem Way is seeing a trend in crime in his store, which has been hit by burglars at least twice in the last month.
"The first Sunday, he grabbed a fire pit, a wall heater, and then the next. Sunday, he came by and grabbed a couple of patio heaters that night," Keith Ace Hardware manager Dillon Woods said.
Woods said the thief hit his store two weekends in a row and got away with a few heaters worth a total of $1,000. Thanks to the community members, they were able to provide more details to Woods.
"There was a witness across the street at Taco Bell who got a picture of the vehicle. He saw the guy loading stuff in the car," said Woods.
Woods said that, luckily, he only sees this kind of crime around the holidays. Statistics from Crimegrade.org, which collects and analyzes crime data, show that a crime occurs every four days on average in China Spring.
The numbers also show drug crimes and vandalism happen more often than burglary in our community.
Woods said they hope to find the person who robbed their store.
"It's a little discouraging for everybody else that just comes in and does the right thing," said Woods.
