HAMDEN, Conn. — During this Memorial Day travel weekend, thousands across Connecticut will be burning gas to get to their destinations. But in Hamden, one service station operator says he’s worried about his gas getting stolen.
Bill Schwabe is the vice president of Operations for Teddy’s Stores. They operate 19 locations across the state including the Sunoco on Dixwell Avenue in Hamden. It’s where Bill says sophisticated thieves are siphoning gas out of his tanks.
“You might get hit overnight,” said Schwabe. He provided FOX61 with video that shows the thieves pulling into pumps at about 1:30 a.m. “Stealing all the gas they want,” said Schwabe.
FOX61 obtained the incident report that shows Hamden police responded to the Dixwell Avenue service station Monday to take down information on the incident which occurred May 17.
Schwabe told police that over the past year he’s had about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel stolen valued at about $5,000. It’s a big financial hit for a small business owner.
“We're working on pennies out here, so for people to come in and take these kinds of numbers from us sets us back quite a bit,” said Schwabe.
The theft itself is quite elaborate and requires some inside industry knowledge, leading Bill to believe, “It has to be somebody local. It has to be somebody in this industry.”
Without giving away too many secrets, basically, most gas pumps can be put in a continuous flow mode with a single code.
“These guys rolled right in with a tractor trailer and had their way,” described Schwabe.
That code is usually the same unless the service station technicians make the extra effort to reprogram it.
The surveillance videos don’t show the suspects themselves or a readable license plate, but police say it appears to be a white heavy duty possibly Ford truck with a trailer and a tank inside.
“I want people to know what that truck looks like and I want somebody to call the Hamden PD to tell them who it is,” remarked Schwabe.
Bill says these thieves then take the gas and sell it on the black market for profit. He told FOX61 he’s since taken more security steps to make sure he won’t be a victim again.
Matt Caron is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at mcaron@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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