Desperate times call for desperate measures.
And in some cases illegal action.
With the price of gas skyrocketing to record levels it’s no surprise that some people are resorting to some unconventional means to gas up.
Just ask police in Hermitage, Pennsylvania who say they may have finally figured out how mass quantities of diesel fuel have been lifted from local gas stations. According to authorities, the perpetrators allegedly employed a specially equipped pickup truck trailer with a trap door and a vacuum hose.
Police say no one has been charged for the crime yet, but the truck and trailer were found on the property of a man who owns a small asphalt and trucking company in Ohio.
Officers describe the gas thief as “ingenious” and note that they have “never seen anything like this before.”
According to police, the trailer contained a straw wall that concealed a wooden partition, which cleverly hid a siphoning mechanism and an empty 15-foot long propane tank. Authorities say they believe someone working with the perpetrator hid inside the trailer and siphoned diesel fuel from underground tanks at fuel stations by lowering a hose through the trap door and using the pickup’s engine to power a vacuum that drew the fuel into the tank.
Police say they aren’t exactly sure where all of the gas went, but they did reveal that they found several storage tanks on the property where they found the truck, including a 5,000-gallon tank containing about 500 gallons of diesel fuel.
According to investigators, there is a possibility the truck could be linked to at least three other fuel thefts dating back to 2005. In the latest heist, which took place about six weeks ago, roughly $4,500 worth of diesel fuel was reportedly stolen from the underground tanks of the Tic Toc Food Mart in Hermitage.
Police say a surveillance photo helped them track down the pickup truck and trailer believed to be involved in the thefts.
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