Posted 2008-06-06 10:09 PM (#85332) Subject: gas thieves
Veteran
Posts: 294 Location: Fort Worth, Tx
On tonight's news, a story about someone stealing gas from a vehicle in a public parking lot...five minutes on the part of the thief and the owner of the car $50 poorer. Those with bigger tanks would be out a lot more! We recently went by Pep Boys and bought locking gas caps for about $15 apiece. Would probably be a worthwhile investment for most people!
Posted 2008-06-06 10:36 PM (#85336 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 2453 Location: Northern Utah
The theives around here got tired of everybody using the locking gas caps.
The TV stations have reported some stories of gas theives drilling holes in the bottom of the tanks and draining them into buckets. Once they get what they want they let the rest just drain on the ground.
So you are not only out the $150 in diesel fuel but you have to replace your tank and clean up the soil contamination.
Posted 2008-06-06 10:48 PM (#85337 - in reply to #85336) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 1877 Location: NY
I remember this happen when there was a gas shortage about 10 yrs ago . Some guy drank the gas as he was sucking it out of the tank and ended up in the hospital
Posted 2008-06-07 1:13 AM (#85342 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Gas Thieves Drilling Into Fuel Tanks
By JEFF KAROUB, AP Posted: 2008-05-29 15:40:40 DETROIT (May 29) - Dale Fortin is getting a new kind of customer at his Detroit auto repair shop, customers who have not just been in a fender-bender or had a windshield smashed by a rock.
As gas prices continue to set daily records, police departments and repair shops around the country say gasoline thieves have moved past the quaint crime of siphoning fuel and are brazenly cutting fuel lines and even drilling into vehicles' gas tanks. Mechanics say pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are particularly vulnerable, as gas thieves target the larger autos because of their height off the ground. Models known to have plastic gas tanks are also targeted, since thieves run less of a risk of sparking an explosion, and the tanks are easier to drill into.
Long-time mechanics and veteran law enforcement officers say they saw the same crime break out in the early 1970s, when Middle East oil exporters withheld shipments to the United States and the Netherlands. Oil prices quickly quadrupled, driving up gas prices.
The soaring price of crude oil has turned gas tanks into a cache of valuable booty, and Fortin has replaced several tanks punctured or drilled by thieves thirsting for the nearly $4-a-gallon fuel inside.
"That's the new fad," he said. "I'd never seen it before gas got up this high."
While gas station drive-offs and siphoning are far more common methods of stealing gas, reports of tank and line puncturing are starting to trickle into police departments and repair shops across the country.
Some veteran mechanics and law enforcement officers say it's an unwelcome return of a crime they first saw during the Middle East oil embargo of the early 1970s.
Gasoline prices surged just before the long Memorial Day holiday weekend and crept a hair higher overnight Monday to a new record national average $3.937 for a gallon of regular, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.
Given their height, Fortin said pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles are more vulnerable to the thieves who puncture the tanks and use a container to catch the fuel.
Plastic tanks are typically the target, he said, since there is less chance of a catastrophic spark, and they are easier to drill into.
A design change may also be contributing to the preference for a drill rather than a syphoning hose. The tanks in many vehicles now have check balls, which prevent spills in a rollover accident. They also make siphoning more difficult.
In recent weeks, police in Denver arrested two suspects in connection with about a dozen cases of damaging tanks and stealing gas.
Denver Police Det. John White sees this "new way of siphoning gas" as a bigger problem.
"What made this particular method so dangerous and concerning for us was the way in which they were doing it - using cordless drills to puncture holes in these tanks," he said of the rash of cases his department has investigated this spring. "The heat, friction generated could have easily sparked a fire. It just made for a dangerous situation for the suspects and the community."
Tank puncturing has yet to reach the radar screens of law enforcement organizations such as the National Sheriffs' Association, or the Automotive Service Association, a group that represents independent garage operators.
Still, at least one insurance company has taken notice: AAA Mid-Atlantic issued a press release earlier this month that cited a case in April in Bethesda, Md., involving a thief who broke the fuel line underneath a car and sapped five gallons of gas. Montgomery County police said a bus in the same parking lot had 30 gallons of diesel stolen.
"These are crimes of opportunity," said AAA spokeswoman Catherine Rossi. "Right now, some people think that stealing gas is a way to get rich quick. It becomes a question of whether you're leaving yourself open to the possibility that someone can get to your car without being seen."
The cost of replacing a metal tank on passenger vehicles is between $300 and $400, and the plastic tank common on newer vehicles would be at least $500.
Bruce Burnham said thieves have hit the Budget Truck Rental business he owns in Shreveport, La., about a half-dozen times in the past three years. The thefts started shortly after Hurricane Katrina when prices spiked, then stopped for a while, then restarted about a year ago.
In some cases the gas lines have been cut; in others, gas has been pumped out. He figures he's lost at least a few thousand dollars in stolen fuel, repair costs and loss of rental fees.
Burnham said he has taken "extra measures to protect the vehicles," but declined to elaborate.
Gas and diesel aren't the only fuels being plundered. Restaurants from Berkeley, Calif., to Sedgwick, Kan., are reporting thefts of old cooking oil worth thousands of dollars. Cooking oil rustlers refine it into barrels of biofuel in backyard stills. Biodiesel can also be blended with petroleum diesel, and blends of the alternative fuel are now sold at 1,400 gas stations across the country.
Still, the theft of regular unleaded gasoline - the kind that leaves everyday drivers high and dry - is on the minds of more law enforcement agencies as prices rise.
Troy Police Lt. Gerry Scherlinck said his suburban Detroit department this month received a report of a stored motor home whose tank was siphoned and drained of 50 gallons of gas. They also had several incidents last year in industrial parks where the gas tanks of vehicles were punctured.
"Gas is liquid gold these days, and has been for the last year-and-a-half," Scherlinck said. "I would anticipate seeing more of these kinds of incidents as the price continues to go up."
Posted 2008-06-10 9:28 AM (#85456 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: Small Town, Texas
I figured this would happen soon. I guess a locking cap might atleast make the job take a little longer.
We are having trailers and livestock and lots of tack stolen down here also. I am sure it is only going to get worse. Nothing worse than a theif but the poor people make minimum wage can not even pay for their gas....
Posted 2008-06-10 6:32 PM (#85489 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Member
Posts: 30 Location: Fort Jones, Ca.
We went throgh this scenario 2 years ago her in Northern Ca., in the Klamath and Trinity National Forest trailhead areas. Our Back Country Horseman chapter would go up to scout a trail for future work (clearing, improvements, etc) and come back and find that the fuel had ben siphoned out (plus windows broke and stuff gone from the cab). In some casees, fuel lines were cut. The local sheriff's dept. and National Forest cops kept looking but could not catch them. These guys would come to a trailhead and leave with 50 - 150 gallons of fuel, so it was well organized. Finally ended up hiring a guy to keep watch (with a rifle) overlooking the trailhead / vehicles. Never had any more problems. The sheriff's dept. did finally catch some guys in a flatbed truck, with numerous 55 gall barrels, siphoning gear on a back road heading back to Oregon. After that, the problem sort of went away. Now with fuel cost, it is probably going to come back round. Wonder if we can still rent that fellow with the rifle???
Posted 2008-06-11 11:31 PM (#85555 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Regular
Posts: 91 Location: Small Town, Texas
Opps sorry about the double post. It has done that a few times lately...
I know I just gave up a LGD beause she was kinda mean now I wish I would have kept her. Another trailer was taken just a few days ago, they just cut the fence and got it and it was an old gooseneck stock. I guess they need something for the stolen livestock to ride in....
Posted 2008-06-12 9:11 AM (#85565 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Veteran
Posts: 219 Location: Mt. Clemens, MI 48043
I don't like to be mean but sometimes you just got to do what you got to do. Like my friend said "I can always put them in a field, put some lime on them with manure nobody would ever notice" but the grass would grow great. I guess I have to get a meaner, bigger dog. My buddy is older and just barely get around - can't catch them like he use to.
Posted 2008-06-14 7:59 AM (#85654 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1069 Location: MI.
Now there's a thought!...........Ya' know, it's pretty bad when you have to worry about the law coming down on you for protecting your own property. What's wrong with that picture?
Posted 2008-06-14 4:38 PM (#85664 - in reply to #85558) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 2958 Location: North Carolina
Originally written by Gone on 2008-06-12 6:55 AM
Can you shoot someone for doing that?
Yes ... If you're in Texas...
This text is from the 1999 Texas Penal Code. For a more current version of this provision see the FastLaws Texas Penal Code
.
Sec. 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41; and
(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or
(B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and
(3) he reasonably believes that:
(A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or
(B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
Posted 2008-06-15 2:00 AM (#85677 - in reply to #85664) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Originally written by hosspuller on 2008-06-14 5:38 PM
Originally written by Gone on 2008-06-12 6:55 AM
Can you shoot someone for doing that?
Yes ... If you're in Texas...
This text is from the 1999 Texas Penal Code. For a more current version of this provision see the FastLaws Texas Penal Code
.
Sec. 9.42. DEADLY FORCE TO PROTECT PROPERTY. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:
(1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41; and
(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or
(B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and
(3) he reasonably believes that:
(A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or
(B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.
Posted 2008-06-18 5:50 PM (#85934 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Veteran
Posts: 148 Location: South of Dallas
Crime is just really getting out of hand here in the DFW area. Well, I'm sure the rest of you are having troubles too, but I can't remember when things were so bad here. We have folks getting shot for their vehicles just because someone "was tired of walking". A little old lady was beaten near to death yesterday for her car after her home was invaded.
You can't have anything on your property if it isn't bolted, chained, welded down and even then it's a crap shoot cuz they'll try to come get it anyway. I'm beginning to think that the NRA has the right idea. If there was more fear on the part of the thugs that the average Joe could be packing heat... um they might think twice about robbing or attacking them. Hate that it comes to that but the crime is done by the time the cops can get to you. Oh, yeah, and some stupid group going up and down neighborhoods setting vehicles on fire. Can't say as I wouldn't want to bust a cap if someone was torching my ride. Ok, I wouldn't shoot to kill but I'd want them to be limping heavily.....
Posted 2008-06-18 11:03 PM (#85950 - in reply to #85945) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 2615
I'm not going to try to kill anybody for trying to take my property and later go to the pen because they might live to say "We just came on the yard to ask for help with a flat tire" or "we were lost" ect ect.I don't want to have the remorse for shooting somebody over taking my lawn mower,or trailer,ect.either.I do remove the key and have a lock on my trailer by the way.
If someone was actually breaking down the door,and I informed them rather loudly that I have a gun and will use it,and they persist,then I'll do what I have to do to live.Because if they're that crazy,they're going to kill YOU when they accomplish breaking in!
However,I don't see what it would hurt to open up a window and fire off a round from a shotgun in the air if I did see someone trying to take an item from my property,and that's exactly what I plan on doing.
Posted 2008-06-19 12:59 AM (#85953 - in reply to #85950) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 2828 Location: Southern New Mexico
However,I don't see what it would hurt to open up a window and fire off a round from a shotgun in the air if I did see someone trying to take an item from my property,and that's exactly what I plan on doing.
It could hurt whoever is standing under that buckshot when it comes down. There have been cases of people killed by bullets falling back to the ground after being shot in the air.
Posted 2008-06-19 2:40 AM (#85955 - in reply to #85332) Subject: RE: gas thieves
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
Bullets Fired Up
Myth statement
Status
Notes
Bullets fired into the air maintain their lethal capability when they eventually fall back down.
Busted , Plausible, and Confirmed
In the case of a bullet fired at a precisely vertical angle (something extremely difficult for a human being to duplicate), the bullet would tumble, lose its spin, and fall at a much slower speed due to terminal velocity and is therefore rendered less than lethal on impact. However, if a bullet is fired upward at a non-vertical angle (a far more probable possibility), it will maintain its spin and will retain enough energy to be lethal on impact. Because of this potentiality, firing a gun into the air is illegal in most U.S. states, and even in the states where it is legal, it is not recommended by the police. Also the MythBusters were able to identify two people who had been injured by falling bullets, one of them fatally. To date, this is the only myth to receive all three ratings at the same time.
gas thieves
.jpg)