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Gas siphoning rises with prices

By Stephanie Garry, Times staff writer
In print: Monday, June 16, 2008


Rhonda Wilhelm, assistant manager of Advance Auto Parts in St. Petersburg, restocks locking gas caps on Friday. The store sold one a week a month ago. Now it is selling one or two a day.
Rhonda Wilhelm, assistant manager of Advance Auto Parts in St. Petersburg, restocks locking gas caps on Friday. The store sold one a week a month ago. Now it is selling one or two a day.
[LARA CERRI | Times]
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On a recent morning, Gary VanDyk walked outside to go to work and saw the gas flap on his car was open. The cap was on the ground, and his tank was empty.

VanDyk, who works as a manager at Napa Auto Parts in St. Petersburg, knew high gas prices were driving more theft. It had happened to delivery trucks at his store.

But he wasn't expecting it to happen at his home in Seminole. Turns out, several of his neighbors were hit, too.

"If people need gas bad enough, they're going to take it no matter how they can get it," VanDyk said.

With gas hovering around $4 a gallon, drivers are more pressed than ever to come up with money to get around. Auto parts stores say they're selling more locking gas caps to protect against gas siphoning.

Shawn Badgley, manager of Advance Auto Parts in St. Petersburg, recently sold about 30 caps to a roofing company manager to use on his fleet of trucks. Badgley outfitted his own delivery trucks with the caps, which run about $15 to $20, after someone siphoned gas from them overnight.

"When the gas prices got over $3.60 is when the gas caps really starting coming off the shelves," Badgley said.

Stant Manufacturing, the largest locking gas cap maker in the United States, says it invented the product during the Great Depression because of the high rate of gas theft.

Sales have more than tripled since gas prices started escalating this year, said Chris Hoffman, product marketing manager.

"As we saw the gas starting to spike, we started increasing our inventories," Hoffman said. "We're actually in pretty good shape."

Factory-built features on cars also have made gas theft trickier. Many new cars have gas flaps that only open when a lever is pulled on the inside of the car.

Some vehicles have a safety device in the gas pipe called a baffle that prevents gas from leaking out in a crash. It also makes it harder to stick a siphon hose into the gas tank.

But the persistent have found ways. Police nationwide have reported cases in which thieves punctured gas tanks to drain out the gas. In Lakeland, a 70-year-old man was charged with theft after police said he pumped more than 900 gallons of gasoline from underground storage tanks last fall.

Last week in Arkansas, a homeowner shot a man stealing gas from a car, injuring him in the arm and leg.

Sgt. Kevin Smith, who heads the Economic Crimes Unit of the St. Petersburg Police Department, said gas siphoning can be hard to investigate because witnesses are rare. He said the department got its first reports of gas siphoning last week. Police in Tampa haven't had any.

At gas stations, drive-offs aren't much of an issue, said Jim Smith, president and chief executive officer of the Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association. When prices rise, stations make less money (profit per gallon stays the same but credit card fees cost more). As a result, few stations will let customers pay after they pump.

"Seventy dollars per fill-up?" Smith said. "That's a lot of money, particularly when you're not making anything."

In St. Petersburg, police have had only about half a dozen reports of drive-offs this year. In Hillsborough County, commissioners in 2005 required drivers to pay before they pump after the sheriff complained that his deputies were spending too much time chasing fuel thieves.

Times researcher Will Gorham and staff writer Tom Kaplan contributed to this report. Stephanie Garry can be reached at (727) 892-2374 or sgarry@sptimes.com.


>>fast facts

Cost of a gallon

Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater gasoline prices

RegularMidPremium

Current$3.973$4.305$4.384

Year ago$2.945$3.191$3.250

Sources: AAA, Oil Price Information Service


[Last modified: Jun 19, 2008 05:41 PM]



Comments on this article
by Linda Jun 19, 2008 5:41 PM
DON'T buy a locking gas cap....all it will cause is for the person to put a hole in your gas tank to collect the gas from below. Purchase of more gas is cheaper than a gas tank
by Lori Jun 19, 2008 9:43 AM
Congress needs to tell little georgie bush he can start drilling in the gulf the day the last American troop leaves Iraq.
by Lori Jun 19, 2008 9:43 AM
If wages had kept up with the cost of EVERYTHING over the last 35-40 years paying four, five or even six dollars for a gallon of gasoline wouldn't be a problem for anyone with a job.
by Lori Jun 19, 2008 9:42 AM
Terry, gasoline has always been expensive in the UK & Europe. But the dollar has lost more than 50% of its value over foreign currencies in the last 5 years. You're not paying that much more than you've been paying for years you lucky duck!
by 727guy Jun 18, 2008 12:40 PM
@dorine - give us a break..oil companies have had exploration rights in the eastern gulf for 1.5 years and have done nothing. They said it would stabilize prices then - still believe them?
by full Jun 17, 2008 2:34 PM
I take this time to laugh at all Hummer ,Expedition , Escalade..etc (large SUV) drivers. How cool are you now ? And a big ha ha to you monkeys who jumped on the diesel band wagon as well. Make sure your 16 year old has a car too. HA ha ha ha!
by Dorine Jun 17, 2008 1:09 PM
The price of gas didn't go sky high until DEMOCRATS won the majority of Congress. DEMOCRATS are blocking any drilling, building of refineries, or converting oil shale to fuel. Instead they want us to grow corn for oil - as the price goes up & up...
by Diana L Reynolds Jun 17, 2008 12:48 PM
Cont.... I told my husband, we better go as soon as kids school out, that would be June 27 here in NY, and when we done with all that trips, all our income will go down the drain.. GAS! It might be our last trip also.
by Diana L Reynolds Jun 17, 2008 12:48 PM
I sure a lots of people do work, but it still COST a lots of money for a dang gasoline. We suppose to go to Montana, then to KY, Ga, then to Pinellas Park. Florida, after that, we had to return home to Rome, And we leaving at uly 5 2008
by DP Jun 16, 2008 5:44 PM
Republican, Democrat, once in congress they all go bad, vote them all out, keep doing so until someone gets the hint to stop subsidizing oil companies, stiflng energy research and giving money away to foreign countries.
by Susan Jun 16, 2008 3:24 PM
People like Dee are the problem, along with the Republican leadership with its hand in the oil company pockets. If you complacently accept it, the prices will just keep rising. If you don't, its time to speak up!
by Greg Jun 16, 2008 3:22 PM
I have a home security camera that records 24 hours a day on DVR, anybody that goes near my car. Vandals & gas thieves - watch out - I will get you.
by 727guy Jun 16, 2008 1:51 PM
@Dee - ..or two, or three. However many it takes with prices where they are.
by 727guy Jun 16, 2008 1:51 PM
Gasoline is 2 bucks and change per gallon in Mexico. Mexico has price controls on their gas so they can make our products cheap. Whose products do we make here in the US now? None. We're just consumers now.
by Bob Jun 16, 2008 10:31 AM
Thank the Bush/Cheny team for this mess. The only final word I have to say to Republicants this fall is good-bye. Your services are no longer required. The United States is in the worst state since the Great Depression.
by Paul Jun 16, 2008 10:31 AM
Maybe if we had some real leadership in this country and someone with the balls to stand up to the oil producing countries we wouldn't be in this position. How about no more aid unless you work with us on price?
by StormySeasAhead Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
A sign of the times. I'm sure retail theft of food has also increased. I have a locking cap, flood light and CCTV camera running 24/7 aimed at my car. In desperate times, the haves must batten down ALL hatches.
by Terry Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
I' on vacation from the UK and you think gasoline is high. It is $10 a galon in the UK. Some drivers, to save themselves gasoline costs, have started to use cooking oil in their tanks as it is cheaper tha gasoline alone.
by Dee Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
Come on people...we all have to pay at the pump! Get a job like the rest of us.
by Donna Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
The City & County can each save over ONE MILLION dollars per year, if they eliminate take home cars for TPD and HCSO. Call the Mayor at 813-274-8251 & County Comm at 813-272-5660 & tell them to stop paying the ENTIRE commuting cost
by Jen Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
Don't blame the economy for gas theft. That's ridiculous. Blame thieves. When something is valuable, thieves will look for a way to steal it and gas is more valuable now.
by Melanie Jun 16, 2008 10:30 AM
What a shame that people have to resort to stealing. Those of us who are honest work very hard for the money to pay for all that gas. I'm really glad my 1995 Toyota Corolla's gas gauge can't be opened from the outside.
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