Tanker Driver Swipes $8,000 Worth Of Gasoline From Indiana Station
Updated 08/29/12 - 3:46 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Thieves are getting creative in northwest Indiana, stealing nearly 2,500 gallons of fuel from three gas stations.
One fake delivery driver got away with 2,100 gallons alone, by pumping it into a commercial tanker truck.
Another station has been hit five times this month alone.
CBS 2's Brad Edwards reports, on Saturday, at the BP station at 2300 Indianapolis Blvd. in Hammond, Ind., a man posing as a fuel delivery driver stopped at the station to say he had to check the levels in the station's storage tanks.
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Instead, he pumped 2,100 gallons of regular gasoline into the truck and left the scene. The station had already had problems when it received tainted gasoline from BP, causing damage to customers' cars.
Late Saturday night, at the GoLo gas station at 4450 Calumet Av. about five miles away, workers reported the fifth incident of stolen gas, due to someone tampering with the pumps.
A man wearing a tank top and using ear buds walked into the station and paid for $5 of gas. Owner Sam Tiwana said, while the man was inside, he apparently called some buddies outside, and they tampered with the tanks, filled up four different cars with a combined 80 gallons of gas, then left without paying.
Tiwana said, with high gas prices, it's already hard enough for his business to survive.
The lost gas and the repairs to the tampered tank could cost him up to $1,000.
Also Saturday, at a BP station at 10850 S. Indianapolis Av. in Hammond, someone tampered with two pumps and made off with 270 gallons of gasoline, worth about $1,000. The gas was pumped into several vehicles.
