Crime & Safety
Palo Alto Police Investigate 133 Gallons of Stolen Gas
The suspects tampered with gas pumps on two different nights, police say.
While the price of gas has increased slightly this summer, it's not at the levels they were last fall.
That's why the Palo Alto Police find the 133 gallons of gas stolen from the Valero at 3972 El Camino Real odd after several suspects on two different nights last week manipulated the gas pump.
"It's unusual," said Sgt. Kara Apple, a spokeswoman with the PAPD. "We might have credit-card skimming or use of stolen credit cards to get gas, but not tampering with the machine to safely pump gas."
The two cases occurred on Monday, July 1st at 11:36 p.m. and Wednesday, July 3rd at 11:30 p.m., and according to Apple, when the suspects drove up they did something to the pump that allowed it to dispense fuel without the payment system being activated.
On the first night, the suspects filled up four different vehicles with about 77 gallons of stolen gas worth $281.82. Surveillance cameras captured a white SUV, probably a Chevy Tahoe; a purple Dodge Charger; a white Ford Escape; and a silver Buick Regal.
The 24-hour Valero near the corner of Robles Avenue didn't have an attendant on duty when the petty theft occurred. According to Apple, the attendant reported the incident to the PAPD on the morning of July 2nd, after he noticed a discrepancy when he tried to balance the accounting.
A neighbor provided police with a general description of two suspects.
During the second incident on July 3rd, three cars filled up with 56 gallons of stolen gas worth $234.08. According to Apple, two different suspects used a different pump, but the same method of tampering with the pump to get the gas. The vehicles that pumped included a dark, probably, Chevy malibu; an early model Lexus RX300 SUV also dark possibly black; and a third car, early 90s Chevy Tahoe also dark.
The same gas attendant reported this incident on July 5th, again as he calculated the amount of gas pumped.
No additional vehicles, besides those described, pumped gas without payment outside of these times, explained Apple. Also, the gas pump wasn't broken, if not vandalism would also be a consideration.
Video surveillance captured general, but not definitive, images of the suspects.
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