By REUVEN BLAU, TAYLOR K. VECSEY and SUSANNAH CAHALAN
Posted: 3:44 am
July 6, 2008
High gas prices have sparked a fight for fuel straight out of "Mad Max" - as thieves equipped with hoses and siphon-pumps are stealing gas from cars.
A thief siphoned the tank of Rose Capone's 2003 BMW 745 as it sat in front of her Staten Island home.
"I was in total shock," she told The Post. "It's come to this."
She was able to make it to a gas station a few blocks away.
Another Staten Islander wasn't so lucky. A Pep Boys manager said a customer got stuck on the Outerbridge Crossing after he had apparently been drained by thieves.
"He looked down and his car was on empty. He was stuck there for an hour waiting to get towed. He wasn't happy about it."
Margaret Odoms, 70, walked out of her Jersey City, NJ, home a month ago to find her Dodge Neon, which she had filled up the day before, bone dry.
Bewildered, she phoned her grandson, car-shop manager Sean Trocat, 28, for an explanation. The answer was obvious: gas bandits.
Trocat's 1999 Lexus was hit two weeks later while parked outside the same Jersey City home. His gas tank was pried open and a rubber hose lay beside the car.
In East Hampton, LI, thieves have drained Janer Salazar's 1998 Jeep Cherokee three times, making off with 45 gallons in all, according to a complaint filed with authorities.
Edward McCloskey told East Hampton officers someone used a pump to take all the gas in his boat's tank, which carried about 80 gallons, worth about $320. The boat was docked at a public commercial-fishing marina.
Gas thefts are "a sign of the times," said East Hampton Town Police Chief Todd Sarris.
Many victims, however, never report what typically amounts to a petit-larceny charge, said law-enforcement officials.
"We have not experienced a spike in reported gasoline thefts that some might expect following the big price increases at the pump," noted NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.
However, the fear of being siphoned has triggered an increase in lock-and-key gas caps. Stant Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer, says sales have doubled in recent weeks.
rblau@nypost.com
