Siphon attempt causes large gas spill

TAMPA - The sign outside the BP station on Citrus Park Drive advertised diesel fuel for $3.89 a gallon.

Early Tuesday morning, detectives say two man planned to fill up, and they had no intention of paying $3.89.

When the station was closed, the men parked their blue van atop a storage tank and started stealing gas.

Their van was specially rigged for fuel theft.

"They cut a hole in the bottom of the van," Hillsborough Sheriff's Captain Andy Ross explained. "They install a plastic bladder tank in the van and they have a pump system."

The gas station was closed early Tuesday. The theft may have gone completely unnoticed. Ross said they simply parked the van over the cap to an underground storage tank and started pumping.

"They drop a hose down into the tank, they flip the switch as they sit in a nearby car while the tank fills up," Ross described.

Their plans were foiled by an alert deputy. He noticed the van parked at an odd angle. He went to investigate and apparently startled the men waiting in a look out car.

"They saw a deputy do a 'U' turn and they just drove away," Ross said.

The case is remarkably similar to a gas theft in Lakeland in October 2007. A 70-year-old tow truck driver was arrested after detectives got a tip about a large-scale gas theft operation.

They watched as they say the man siphoned gas from a convenience store. They followed as he made his way to another gas station in Dade City. He was pulled over with a trailer outfitted with two large tanks, hoses and marine batteries.

Deputies say the tanks could hold more than 4,000 gallons of stolen gas. In the Citrus Park case, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection investigators say fewer than 500 gallons were spilled.

The agency is still trying to determine how much was actually stolen. That sign advertising $3.98 a gallon diesel fuel may have had something to do with the theft. Investigators say when gas prices go up, thieves go to work.