Gas Thieves Hit The North Country

[Clipper]

Watertown-area thieves tapped into fuel tanks


SACKETS HARBOR —

Police in northern New York are investigating the theft of nearly 1,000 gallons of fuel from underground tanks at three convenience stores.

The Watertown Daily Times reports that somebody with a tanker truck and a pump stole the fuel at night from stores in Watertown, Great Bend and Sackets Harbor between Fed. 11 and last Friday.

State police and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says they have few leads and are asking the public to report any unusual activity observed at the stores on the nights of the thefts.

Authorities say the thefts included unleaded gasoline, kerosene and octane gas with a total value of nearly $6,400.


Hmm. I wonder if the Gypsy driveway sealers are back in town? Back in the 70's we had a band of Gypsies that would arrive in Newport each summer, stay in a local campground, and would seal driveways in the area. Two years in a row the two local gas stations found that they had been robbed of 4 or 5 hundred gallons of gasoline from their underground tanks. They also used to go into the local grocery store in large numbers and while some kept the cashier and owner busy, the rest would shoplift everything they could lay their hands on. The owner's wife pulled a cute one on one of the gypsy women. She waited until she was ready to leave the store and she walked up and hugged the big busted gypsy woman tightly and thanked her for shopping there. When she hugged her, there was a cracking noise and raw egg started oozing from the bottom of the woman's blouse.

I hope I don't offend any of our members that may be members of any rogue Romanian Tribes. I am not noted for my politically correct nature.

[chris]

wow I didn't think that would be possible, at least not from a gas station. Maybe syphoning a gas tank but not a whole station. You would need special equipment and I don't think it would be such that it would go unnoticed.

[Clipper]

The gypsy thieves of the 70's had large tanks and electric pumps on their trucks. Most of them drove 1 ton dual wheeled pick up trucks. The trucks were equipped with 50 and 100 gallon fuel tanks in the bed of the truck along with a tank for the driveway sealer material. They traveled with camping trailers. Their campers and pick ups were gorgeous. I guess if you steal your gasoline and don't have to pay for it, your travel budget has more room in it to purchase fancy trucks and trailers.

Hmmm. I wonder if the Gypsies are recruiting. I could use a new truck and a bigger camping trailer, lol.

[JGRobinson]

Mom used to tell the Gypsy stories, oner trick was called Bumpa-Fenrdra. They knew just how to smack a car so that a dendt would appear that they could remove easily. Then return days later offering to remove it for a couple bucks, one smack and the dent disappeared, they grab the money and they were gone.

Even my Grandfather the Coronel got taken by their driveway resurfacing, they used to call it oiling the driveway but they were suposed to use tar not oil! Unfortunately, right after they are done, both Tar and Oil look much the same. Its only a couple weeks later that he realized all they did was spread used motor oil on the driveway and that wore off quickly. By then, they were down the road!

The stolen fuel sound like either a naive station owner that should learn to lock their tanks and vents or an inside job! 1000+ gallons is no little heist, cant just stick that in one pickup even if its a super duty. Sounds more like an hourly worker that knew the schedule and the weak points of the station.

[Clipper]

In today's world I am sure that they do lock their tanks. Back in the 60's in small town USA, no one locked the underground tanks.

Those gypsies had 100 or 150 gallon tanks that looked like a diamond plate tool box.

The old motor oil was used frequently in my day. Even town and county highway departments would put used oil on dirt roads to keep dust down. Talk about an environmental nightmare, lol.

[clarencebunsen]

Even a bigger nightmare, using oil which contained PCB's.

[Clipper]

I remember oiling the dusty gravel driveway at a farm where I worked as a kid. We punched mulitple holes in the bottom of a number ten can and attached a wire bail-like handle. One would walk slowly swinging the can from side to side, slinging the oil, while the other of us would carry a pail filled with used oil from the tractors to keep the perforated can filled with oil.