St. Paul police investigating reports of gas being stolen from vehicles
St. Paul police are looking into a recent rash of people stealing gas. Not from the pumps — the thieves are drilling holes in gas tanks to get it.
It's happening in several St. Paul neighborhoods in the middle of the night. Thieves drill a hole in the gas tank, making off with what's inside.
"Most of them are trucks because there is more room to get under and they take it into must be a huge container because I had a full tank of gas," John Holzem said.
Holzem says his Chevy Silverado was targeted late at night about two weeks ago.
He didn't notice until he was on the highway heading home from a doctor's appointment.
"All of a sudden, it went weird, and it was slowing down, and I'm looking in my mirror and traffic was behind me. I had just enough fumes to get off to the side," Holzem said.
He called AAA, and when someone arrived, he learned his truck had stopped because it had no gas in it.
"He went and got more gas, he poured the gas right in and it ran right out," Holzem said.
Holzem had to have the truck towed.
"I had it towed to St. Paul Automotive, and they said it was the third one they brought in there like that," Holzem said.
St. Paul Automotive says it is working on four vehicles, all with the same problem: someone drilled a hole in the gas tank and took the gas.
St. Paul police say they have about a half dozen reports of these gas thefts.
The thieves are hitting targets along the Mississippi River, the west end, the west side, and St Paul's central neighborhoods.
"By the time it was all said and done with the towing, it was $600," Holzem said.
Holzem and his neighbors are now on alert, and they want others in St. Paul to be as well.
"They are going to do it at night. You are sleeping and no one is going to sit up all night and watch them. Since then, I put a security system in," Holzem said.
Investigators are looking for any video or information about these thefts. If you have any information, call the St. Paul Police Department.