Gas Crime

(June 12, 2008) A few months ago, security tapes from the Indianola Market captured images of a “decent-looking guy” rolling up to the gas pump in a White Jeep Cherokee. As the gas flowed like a river into the handsome man’s jeep, he frantically looked through his pockets, side panels and wallet for his money. But by what happened next, one would guess that he didn’t find any.

When the gas pump stopped at 71-something dollars, the handsome guy got out of his vehicle and rounded the total up to $72. But instead of paying that amount, the guy peeled out of the gravel parking lot in a large and obtrusive cloud of dust. The only thing owner Shelly O’Brien received from him that day was headshots on videotape.

She never saw the white Jeep or that guy again. Or her $72.

Gas thefts. They happened back in the 1970s when gas went up to $.55/gallon. People freaked. Some people freaked so much that they began siphoning it and stealing it and hoarding it.

And history repeats itself. National gas prices are going up again. National gas thefts are going up again. Last month, some self-entitled person stole a whopping 1,500 gallons of gas directly from underground storage tanks at a station in Laytonville. Whoa.

Although Humboldt has yet to see anything all that dramatic, gas thefts are occurring in scattered cases around the county. Local police from Arcata and Eureka say very few gas thefts have been officially reported since gas has become a very valuable product that as of a few days ago was running $4.59 per gallon.

But some victims of gas crimes in Humboldt County say that reporting a seemingly isolated incident to the police won’t amount to much. So they don’t. Therefore the police have no record of the crime.

When O’Brien called the Sheriff’s office to report the handsome guy in the jeep’s drive-off, an officer took his squad car down Old Arcata Road to interview her and file a report. But because the video camera had not accurately recorded a license plate number, the officer said it would be difficult to identify the man. “He came down, said, ‘go ahead and report it if you want, but it probably won’t amount to much’,” O’Brien said.

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