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Midvale • In the darkness of a November night, Terrin Maxwell sneaked into a garage in Murray and began stealing.
He might have taken more that night, but a neighbor saw him walking across several yards carrying bolt cutters and called police, according to court documents. Maxwell has been sent to prison, but his impact is still being felt on the area's crime statistics.
In 2009, serious crimes in Murray — felonies including assaults and car thefts — increased 12.6 percent and in Midvale increased 6.5 percent, according to state statistics, even while statewide crime decreased. Serious crime in Salt Lake County as a whole increased by less than 1 percent.
The two cities did not have a homicide in 2009. But in Murray, every other serious crime category saw an increase. Midvale's increase was driven by a rise in robberies, aggravated assaults and larcenies.
Midvale Police Chief Tony Mason believes the increase in larcenies is a result of more people being in town. The city's daytime population has increased in the past year, Mason said, as a result of construction projects such as the WinCo Foods, which sits in sight of the city's downtown.
But Mason also acknowledges Midvale has a gang problem, and it's driving a rise in assaults. Mason, who used to work undercover as a gang detective, has assigned two more officers to work in anti-gang units. And Midvale this year adopted a Good Landlord Program, which gives property owners a discount on their business licenses if they refuse to rent to people with significant criminal records or who are unruly after moving in.
"I expect it to have a large impact," Mason said.
Murray's per capita rate for serious crime is still much lower than it was at the end of the 1990s, according to a review of state data, but the numbers have been increasing again since 2007.
Murray leaders contend 2010 will be better. The city on Monday submitted data showing all offenses — from aggravated assault to traffic accidents — declined 5.5 percent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same time in 2009.
Darren Stam, a councilman for Murray's District 2, said he has not heard concerns from residents, but the council has been monitoring the crime rates in that city. City leaders assume the bad economy is to blame for much of the crime.
"You don't have something, you have to get it somehow, I guess," Stam said.
Stam, who lives not far from where Maxwell was caught, said his neighborhood has suffered a lot of garage burglaries. Some of Stam's neighbors have been victims, he said.
Murray has tried to reduce crime by educating residents. In a city newsletter this spring, Police Chief Peter Fondaco devoted ink to encouraging people to keep their garage doors shut.
It's the same lesson Maxwell preaches.
Maxwell said he was using methamphetamine and hanging around other drug users in Murray. He needed cash for drugs. Court records say he burglarized two garages there Nov. 23 and stole an iPod, check cards, tools and cash. He also took a pickup truck from one of the garages.
In a telephone interview last week, Maxwell said he just went around town looking for open overhead garage doors.
"If they were open, I'd go in and look," Maxwell said.
When the neighbor spotted him with the bolt cutters on Nov. 24, Maxwell ran from police and kicked his way into a shed to hide. A police dog found him and officers arrested him.
Maxwell, now 22 years old, pleaded guilty to two felonies. He received concurrent sentences of one to 15 years in prison. He is serving his time in the Beaver County Jail and said he recently completed a drug treatment program. He is scheduled to be paroled Oct. 1, 2013.
Maxwell said closed garage doors deter thieves from stealing from them. Alarm company stickers in windows also discourage thieves, he said.
"I've got a lot of time," Maxwell said. "I'm hoping to never come back."