‘We make thieves famous:’ Weslaco store shaming alleged thieves on social media
A Weslaco hardware store is pushing to shame thieves and potential criminals into doing the right thing.
Owners at Ted's Borderland Hardware say practically all of their customers are polite and friendly, but they’re tired of people stealing their merchandise.
They put suspects on blast by putting their photos on their Facebook page.
“I say we make thieves famous,” co-owner Hayden Ellis said. “We can get your face coming in, we can get your face going out."
The store recently made a post about a woman they said walked away with a $240 roll of wire. She came into the store and grabbed the roll, claiming that she wanted a refund on it, Ellis said.
“As soon as he said he was going to look at the footage, she exited the store with the roll of wire," Ellis said.
The post says police have been notified and that the woman will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Ellis said that the last time they had a theft, they posted about it and heard back from the subject.
“That gentleman actually called our store and asked us to take the post down because it was embarrassing,” Ellis recalled. “If you're going to come in and do this, we're going to do our best to put your face on the internet, get people to know you for that."