SAN DIEGO — Video from a home surveillance camera captured a man with a gas can and a long tube walking through yards in Clairemont.
It happened in the middle of the night and camera’s owner only checked her footage because she got a concerning call from a neighbor saying his gas cap was found on the ground.
The woman, who asked not be identified, then checked her vehicles and discovered one had noticeably less gas.
“Just makes you feel icky,” she said, “Like am I really safe here? Is my stuff going to get stolen? Do I have to worry about this?”
She’s not alone. Another CBS 8 viewer sent us video from his camera that also caught a suspected gas thief on his property. He lives in the Clairemont/Bay Ho area.
The Auto Club of Southern California says they're not surprised to hear about these incidents. The average price for a gallon of gas in San Diego right now is $5.55 a gallon.
“That is up 16 cents from a week ago,” said spokesperson Doug Shupe. “It's up 36 cents from a month ago.”
Shupe says this is usually a time when prices drop because the summer travel season is over, but refinery issues are causing a spike instead.
His advice to car owners?
“Try to park it wherever there's lots of light and lots of passersby. Eyes on the vehicle hopefully will deter thieves from picking your vehicle to steal that gasoline.”
If you can park in a garage, even better, but for many, street parking is the only option.
Our victim says she did file a police report, but so far she hasn't had any follow up from an officer. She's hoping by sharing her video and story that others will at least be aware of the problem and take precautions.
“As neighbors, we can try to prevent it in our own areas is probably the best we can do,” she said. “Are they going to catch him? Probably not. I'm not holding out any hope about that.”
But she is hoping that maybe someone will recognize the man and that will convince him to stop.
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