Thief Strikes Oil Underground In Bucks County
BUCKINGHAM TOWNSHIP, P.A., (CBS) -- Buckingham Township Police are looking for a slippery thief stealing heating oil from underground tanks.
Detective Corporal Robert McLeod says surveillance video shows the thief pulling his truck over the fill pipe of the underground fuel oil tank outside the Holicong Middle School earlier this week.
The truck, Corporal McLeod says, apparently has a removable floor or hatch, which allows him to use a pump to siphon 1,000 gallons of oil out and into a 1,000 gallon tank inside his truck.
Because the truck looks like a delivery van, police say it went unnoticed, the theft eventually discovered by school officials when they noticed the oil missing.
"After sitting there for two hours, he just pulls off as nice as you please," Corporal McLeod told Eyewitness News.
Police hope surveillance video, shown first and exclusively on CBS 3, will prompt someone to provide information identifying the thief or his truck.
Similar oil thefts they say have been reported in Quakertown and Allentown. In all cases, the victims are school districts.
The oil, investigators explain, apparently is a hot item for resale. Purchased by the school district for $2.50 a gallon, it's worth $2,500.
"And remember," Corporal McLeod said, "those are taxpayer dollars."
If you have information, Buckingham Township Police ask that you call them at 215-794-8812.