Cases reported in Colorado of thieves drilling holes and stealing gas from parked vehicles

It's an infuriating crime in a Colorado neighborhood, as police say thieves are drilling holes and stealing gas out of the gas tanks of parked cars.

The stealing of gas comes at a time when many people are already struggling to keep up with the rising prices at the pumps. The average price for regular gas in Colorado as of Thursday is $4.40 a gallon, which is up about 15 cents in just the past week, and 60 cents in the past month.

Englewood police say they've received at least two reports of thieves stealing gas from the area of South Galapago Street and West Cornell Avenue, with another recent incident just two blocks away.

With the high gas prices and the area not being well-lit at night, neighbors say they're not surprised.

Sunday was just a normal Sunday as Joanne Taylor went to get groceries.

"I walk around my truck, and I see a pile of fluid, basically underneath the truck, and I was like, smells like gas," Taylor said. "I turned on the ignition, and it said, completely empty. It was a full tank of gas, and I have a 22-gallon tank."

Thieves drilled two holes into her gas tank, but she's not the only victim out there.

Jason Colson owns Autolab Englewood off Broadway. Not only have his customers been victims of stolen gas in the past six months, but he has also been too.

"We had several Hondas at the time. They were CRVs — SUVs with higher ground clearance — so that obviously this person can get the drill underneath the car and then also the gas tank," Colson said.

Colson says he sees crime happening more often to customers who live closer to Broadway or in dark-lit areas. He's mostly seen it happen with SUVs and high clearance vehicles, and tanks that are plastic instead of metal are targeted more.

He also shared key indicators that you've been targeted.

"When you start to drive it, and then suddenly, your car shuts off, or it starts to shake and then shuts off, but it's out of fuel. There have been times when it's hot enough that we smelled the fuel order odor from the residual that was in the gas tank," Colson said.

With high gas prices, the crime comes as no surprise to him.

"As people have to make a choice between rent and gas, gas would be the easier thing to steal," he said.

But it's also not a cheap fix.

"It can be a $300 to $400 fix, and the reasoning for that is that the adhesives that are available that are gas repellent or can set up with gas sitting on them, are not an easy task or cheap," Colson said. "If you have to replace the tank, that can be closer to the high hundreds to $1,000 mark. So it's not a friendly repair at all."

Taylor said she was parked in a darker part of the parking lot when it happened and has since moved her vehicle. She urges people to think about where they park and be vigilant.

"It cost me almost $2,000 and I just picked it up yesterday," she said. "Just keep your eye out, that's for sure, and I put up a camera and I won't be parking in that spot again."

Colson said there's not much you can do to prevent yourself from being targeted. He does suggest parking in areas that are well-lit or near your home. He added that any kind of deterrent is better than nothing.