With diesel fuel prices still high, one suspect tried to take matters into his own hands in California.
Police say a man attempted to steal hundreds of gallons worth of fuel from a gas station in the city of Lodi but didn't get far.
"By the time the cops hit the sidewalk, he was hopping out of the truck, trying to pull the nozzle out and it was still pumping and shot fuel out," Kludt Oil & Propane owner Michael Kludt said.
It was all caught on camera last week and was brought to a halt, all thanks to an observant bystander who noticed something suspicious.
"This guy wouldn't look at him, just seemed kind of odd," Kludt shared. "He's like, 'He's pumping here too long. Something's not right.' "
That gut feeling was spot on.
"They located a male suspect who appeared to be pumping gas into an external tank on the bed of a truck," Lodi police Sergeant Elias Ambriz explained. "Upon further investigation, they found that the bed of the truck was actually hollow and that there was gas in the tank as well as in the bed of the truck."
The makeshift truck bed was capable of holding over a thousand gallons of fuel.
The owner of the gas station says the suspect was only able to fill less than half the tank, but this isn't the first time this has happened at Kludt Oil.
"Last year, we reconcile our sales and gallons every day, and there was a day we were off 500 gallons," Kludt continued. "We couldn't find anything wrong and what happened was they hit us that weekend before the [inspectors] could come out. They got approximately 4,500 gallons of fuel and at the time, that was about $30,000 resale."
It was a similar makeshift truck, but this time, the suspect was able to bypass the new security measures put in place last year.
The owner says the suspect was able to hot-wire the pump to put it in "unauthorized mode" so fuel would continue to run without any interruption.
Kludt worries it could happen again, especially since diesel is $6 per gallon.
"They're probably always stealing fuel but right now, with just how expensive fuel is, it makes it more enticing," Kludt explained. "If they were to come back how they did last year, it would have been really ugly and it would have gotten ugly quick."
If they see something suspicious, don't be afraid to give us a call," Sgt. Ambriz said. "We came across this because of a reporting party gave us the tip, so we could come across this and help a local company."
Lodi police detained the man and seized the truck.
Kludt Oil & Propane was able to retrieve all the stolen gas from the makeshift truck bed. The owner says they plan on installing additional security measures with the hope that history doesn't repeat itself.
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