Thief drills holes in gas tanks to steal gas

ATLANTA - People in parts of Atlanta are angry that someone has been stealing the gas out of their cars. 

Those to which it happened said the gas thief isn't just siphoning it out of the tank, they're drilling a hole in the tank leading to an expensive repair.

Marie Billings didn't know anything was wrong with her car until she was about two miles down the road, and it suddenly stopped. Some folks helped her get to a gas station. She started pumping gas, but it never seemed to fill up.

"I look up under my car, $75 worth of gas is flowing on the ground like honey," said Billings.

She called a mechanic who her told her someone had drilled a hole into her tank. He showed her the metal shavings left behind. 

Billings posted what happened on social media, and soon, others across Kirkwood,  Edgewood and East Atlanta said the same thing happened to them.

Michelle King said her husband walked out of their Edgewood home just as someone was tampering with his vehicle.

"The guy heard him come out and ran around his car and got back in, and he had a small gas tank. My husband could hear and smell all the gas pouring out of his truck," said King.

The high cost of gas these days is one thing, but the cost to replace the gas tank is a lot more.

King said the tank for her husband's truck was $2,000.

"It's one thing if he was just stealing the gas, but he's doing this so often and causing so much damage. Hopefully they can find him quickly," said King.

King believes it happened to at least 20 people. She said initially people didn't call police about it thinking nothing could be done about it, but now more people are coming forward to report it.

They are sending police videos and images from home surveillance cameras of the man they believe is doing it and the car he's driving. They're hoping police can put an end to the gas thefts.

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