On April 9, a trucker called county deputies after he noticed a hose pipe hanging out of his fuel tank. A thief had apparently stolen the fuel from his truck while he slept.

Parked at a Bowman truck stop, the trucker said that around 1:10 a.m., he woke up and noticed his fuel gauges read a lot lower than before he went to bed. Someone had used the hose to siphon diesel from his tanks, according to an Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The man told police the gas thief then sped away in a black Peterbilt tractor-trailer after taking about 100 gallons.

With gas prices climbing daily further north of $3 a gallon, law enforcement officials say the Indiana trucker’s story may not be the last.

“Over the past year and a half, there’s been a slight increase,” Calhoun County Sheriff Thomas Summers said of gas drive-offs and theft. “When gas first started to spike, we saw an increase.”

Across the lower Midlands, officials say the number of gas drive-offs varies, fluctuating by area. Calhoun County has had an average of about one a month this year, records indicate.

As gas prices follow the cow over the moon, police say they expect those numbers to climb. Investigators say we’ll see more creative ways to steal gas like the incident last Saturday. A man gave a Bamberg Highway store clerk a credit card and a driver’s license saying he wanted to fill up. The man then put about $30 in his vehicle and drove away.

The credit card came back as invalid. So did the license plate number on the vehicle.

“Pay first, that’s the best policy,” Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Chief Barbara Walters said.

In the city of Orangeburg, gas drive-offs have actually taken a dip in number.

From April 2006 to April 2007, there were 22 gas drive-offs. In the span between April 2007 and now, there have been 16 drive-offs. Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Capt. Mike Adams said that reduction is directly related to a change in business policy.

“It’s apparent that many of the gas stations have changed the way they do business,” Adams said. “Most now require prepay. Payment is then made before the gas is pumped.”

North Police Chief Mark Fallaw said a resident in a rural area near North previously had no problems with theft until he recently found his vehicle tampered with. The target -- the vehicle’s gas.

“He finds the hose sticking out and somebody had taken the gas,” he said.

In his rural area in western Orangeburg County, the North chief said he’s seen an increase in gas thefts, adding, “I’m sure it’s due to the rising fuel and oil prices.”

A Lowcountry municipality, Fallaw said, recently passed a statute mandating all gas distributors change their policy to pay-first only. The North police chief said his office is taking a proactive stance and will ask distributors to follow suit.

“What that did was drive the gas drive-offs to zero,” Fallaw said. “It cuts it down to zero.”

Adams said he believes the decrease in Orangeburg drive-offs is due to a pay-first policy.

For private vehicles, police suggest a locking gas cap, particularly SUVs, big rig trucks or any other vehicles that require an arm and a leg to fill.

“We have had some fuel thefts from large trucks, both diesel and gasoline,” Adams said. “This seems to be indicative of a shift in tactics.”

Besides a locking cap, fleet vehicles should be kept in a secured area at night. Some companies that fuel their vehicles at night should consider refueling in the morning, police say.

Anyone caught taking gas can be hit with a pretty stiff penalty. A first-timer can be slapped with fines and penalties that top a thousand dollars.

“You end up paying a total of $1,087.50,” said Calhoun County Chief Magistrate Robert Lake. “Also, you get 30 days in jail.”

More, state statute 16-13-185 says a person who fails to pay for gas can lose his or her driver’s license for up to 30 days.

Woe to the individual who gets caught a second time. They won’t be needing a vehicle for up to 90 days.

n T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker @timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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