Armed with a bucket, a hose and a little knowledge of physics, gasoline siphoning thieves have begun appearing in Montgomery County and police say they are worried that it’s an ‘‘emerging trend.”
‘‘As the price continues to be outrageous, the probability of people stealing goes up,” said Capt. Thomas Didone, commander of the 5th District station.
Didone said the upcounty recently recorded its first reports of gasoline theft, a pair of incidents in Germantown that came as no surprise to him. Police also reported two more thefts from a parking lot in Bethesda in late April.
Simple economics is likely to drive an increase in siphoning, Didone said Friday.
‘‘Collectively, we believe we’re at the beginning of an emerging trend, and it just makes good sense as the cost of gas keeps going up and up that desperate people may start stealing,” he said.
Police are looking for suspects in all four gas thefts.
The first of the two Germantown thefts is believed to have been committed between 1:30 p.m. March 30 and 8:30 a.m. March 31 in the 19600 block of Galway Circle, said police spokeswoman Lucille Baur. A gas tank door was pried open on the vehicle and about 10 gallons of gas stolen, Baur said.
In the second Germantown theft, a victim told police of gas stolen from a vehicle between 4 p.m. March 28 and 9 a.m. March 30 in the 14200 block of Autumn Crest Road, Baur said. The victim’s vehicle was missing about half tank of gas, Baur said.
The thefts in Bethesda were discovered shortly after 7 a.m. on April 24 in a parking lot on Tuckerman Lane, Baur said. A car’s fuel line under the vehicle had been broken off and about five gallons of gas was missing, she said.
Police also found a bus in the same parking lot with its fuel cap open and 30 gallons of diesel fuel missing from its tank, Baur said.
She said she had not heard of any other recent reports of gas thefts in the county.
‘‘These crimes are extremely difficult to investigate if they have not been witnessed, and we have no suspect’s information to go on,” Baur said.
She urged anyone with information on the thefts to call police at 301-840-2650.
John Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Washington office, said in a written statement that AAA officials have begun to notice an increase in gas siphoning nationally.
‘‘The last time we saw this was in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when gas prices hit an all-time high,” he said.
Townsend recalled an outbreak in gas thefts in the Washington, D.C., area after companies shut down oil refinery operations along the Gulf of Mexico in August 2005. He cited one incident in which 400 gallons of off-road diesel fuel was taken from a fuel tank at a construction site in Fairfax County. He recommended people concerned about gas siphoning buy locking gas caps, which cost an average of $10 to $20.
‘‘If you have one of those, you have nothing to worry about,” Townsend said in an interview.
Hafiz Tipu, owner of Penn Auto Stores in Gaithersburg, said Thursday he still has plenty of locking gas caps in his inventory. He said he had sold one earlier in the week and none since.
Didone said gas siphoning is an insidious crime because the victims often don’t realize four or five gallons are missing from their tanks when they check their gas gauges.
‘‘It’s probably a very unreported crime,” Didone said.
In addition to locking gas caps, Townsend recommended the following steps to prevent gas siphoning:
*Park in an attended garage or lot.
*Leave only the ignition door key with an attendant if parking in an attended lot. Don’t give the attendant a key that can open the trunk or glove box. Check the gas gauge upon returning to ensure gas has not been siphoned.
*Park in a lighted area while on the streets at night. Thieves may also be discouraged by parking close to a corner, where they are more likely to be observed.
*Park vehicles inside the garage at Metro stations, not in the parking lot.
