Drive-offs are how most gas thefts occur, but during the past few years, gasoline theft rings with trucks specifically designed to siphon large amounts of fuel have emerged.
Gasoline thieves are going for more than just a tank of fuel. Thieves made off with more than 10,400 gallons of unleaded gasoline in Florida. A man in California has been arrested for stealing 20,000 gallons of fuel from 15 retailers. And a man in Richmond, Texas, has been arrested for stealing 1,400 gallons of diesel from two underground storage tanks.
During the past few years, gasoline theft rings have emerged, with trucks specifically designed to siphon large amounts of fuel. Mostly, these types of thefts happen overnight after business hours, but sometimes they occur at busy times. Large quantities of stolen fuel are probably sold to another gasoline retailer. “If you’re stealing thousands of gallons of fuel, you have a customer lined up who can handle it,” said National Association of Convenience Stores spokesperson Jeff Lenard.
On a positive note, Lenard noted that paying before pumping has cut down on the amount of fuel stolen across the nation from convenience stores by more than half and that large-scale gasoline thefts are very rare.
Source: National Association of Convenience Stores
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