HERMITAGE, Pa. — Police said they have linked large quantities of diesel fuel stolen from a western Pennsylvania convenience store to a specially equipped pickup truck trailer with a trap door and a vacuum hose.
The truck was found on the property of a man who owns a small asphalt and trucking company just across the Ohio border north of Youngstown, police said.
No one has been charged.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Hermitage Deputy Police Chief Edward Holiga.
The trailer contained a straw wall that concealed a wooden partition. The partition hid a siphoning mechanism and an empty 15-foot-long propane tank.
Diesel prices are soaring. The national average price of a gallon of diesel fuel rose 0.9 cent Thursday to a record national average of $4.787. Diesel prices are above $5 a gallon in some areas.
Holiga said his department is investigating whether the truck may be linked to at least three other nearby thefts since 2005. The latest theft was reported April 28 at the Tic Toc Food Mart in Hermitage, which reported that about $4,500 worth of diesel fuel was stolen from its underground tanks. Holiga said police in Ohio are investigating at least one theft there, too.
Holiga said an investigation is ongoing and he doesn’t expect charges until at least next week.
Police issued a surveillance photo of the pickup and trailer believed to be involved in the thefts and received a tip that led them to a property in North Bloomfield, Ohio.
Police obtained a search warrant and on Wednesday found several storage tanks on the property, including a 5,000-gallon tank containing about 500 gallons of diesel fuel.
Police believe someone inside the trailer would siphon diesel fuel from underground tanks at fuel stations by lowering a hose through the trap door and using the pickup’s engine to power a vacuum that drew the fuel into the tank, Holiga said.
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