"He stuck something in and pried open the lid and the car alarm went off," Morris Harris told Washington, D.C. ABC affiliate WJLA. Morris "said he was shocked when he was awoken at 3 a.m. by the sound of his car alarm going off. He rushed out of his Germantown home to his truck parked in the driveway and was shocked again. He said, '[I found] a gas tank on the ground next to my truck. They left the tank and ran off when the alarm went off.'"
Gas theft. It's suddenly everywhere.
North Carolina Time Warner affiliate News 14 reports, "Last week… 48-year-old Cleve Johnson used a 200-gallon, 100-gallon, and 55-gallon tank to steal fuel from a High Point construction site."
Hawaii's KITV: "Police on Kaua`i said they have seen a sharp increase in gas thefts."
Minnesota's WDIO: "In Duluth, already twice this week people have reported their gas being stolen straight from their gas tanks."
Canada's Canwest News says local stations are seeing motorists fill their tank and drive away without paying "at least three times a week."
Kentucky's WLKY reported an incident in which thieves cut the fuel lines of delivery trucks in order to drain the gas.
Colorado's Grand Junction Sentinel: "An 18-year-old man rushed himself to the hospital Friday morning with burns to his hands after a gas-siphoning scheme backfired on him early in the day, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department." The man had "peered into a portable gas tank with a cigarette lighter 'to see how full it was,' said Heather Benjamin, Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman."
Alright, we didn't say gas thieves were all brilliant. But we found dozens of such reports in a quick search.
How can you protect yourself?
The New York Post has a simple answer: buy a locking gas cap. "A typical locking cap for a car costs $15-$20, depending on the auto model." Jon Paulette, a spokesman for parts supplier Autosportcatalog.com, told the Post, "This is the hottest product of the summer. We're keeping up with the backorders but we're going to need a lot by Memorial Day." It's important to buy a cap made for your specific model of car, because "Using the wrong cap for your car's emission system will trip the 'check engine' warning light."
Parking your car in a garage, or at least a well-lighted area, may also help protect your gas. Lastly, keep track of how much gas you actually have in the car. Duluth, Minnesota Deputy Police Chief Jon Beyer told WDIO, "If you ask the average person right now without looking how much gas is in your gas in your car, the average person is going to say I really don't know and so I'm suspecting this may be happening more frequently than people realize."
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