As gas prices hit record high, police probe 1,000-gallon theft
With gasoline prices in California setting new record highs, police in one Northern California community are dealing with gas thieves.
Police in Roseville are looking for gasoline thieves who struck two stations, taking nearly 1,000 gallons of the increasingly expensive fuel.
All the gas was stolen this week from a Shell station near the Roseville Square shopping center. And a few days earlier, thieves had made made an unsuccessful attempt at a 76 station a few blocks away, Fox40 in Sacramento reported.
According to the manager of the Shell station, a man in a black pickup pumped 300 gallons of gas, some of it going to a tank in the pickup's bed. It happened around 1:30 a.m., when the convenience store was closed.
But security cameras caught the thief using a credit card. The pump's meter was somehow disabled, and the manager had to check records to show that the gas was taken.
Gasoline prices skyrocketed after the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance was knocked offline Monday by a power outage. Other lingering refinery and pipeline problems also contributed to the soaring costs at the pump.
ALSO:Costco works to get its gas stations restocked
Economists warn about the effect of soaring gas prices
Does $5 gas = buy a hybrid or electric car? A cost/benefit analysis
-- Fox40 Sacramento and Los Angeles Times
EDITOR'S PICKS:
