Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
JUSTIN GEORGEAs cargo goes, police say, a thief hit a winner: costly diesel fuel. But the getaway truck stayed put.
TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office agreed that it was a crime of the times.
In the context of ever-increasing fuel prices, Yoandris Sanchez is accused of a lucrative but illegal venture: stealing hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel.
By day, Sanchez, 27, of Tampa was a contract driver for Soil Tech, a Tampa company that hauls whatever a customer needs hauled, including garbage and rocks. Sanchez owns his own semitrailer truck, a cherry-colored International that has a bag of tortilla chips and orange work vest in the cab.
By night, said sheriff's Master Sgt. Ira Arman, Sanchez hitched his truck to a leased white trailer. It has an open top, which Sanchez allegedly covered using tarps and bungee cords to disguise what he hid within it. Inside the back gate, a plastic tank with a capacity of at least 800 gallons was connected to a hose and a pump powerful enough to fill it in half an hour.
On July 11, someone stole about 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel from Kimmins Contracting Corp. On Aug. 2, Kimmins reported another fuel theft. This time, a security guard noticed an abandoned semitrailer truck backed up to fuel storage tanks, where 800 gallons was missing.
It seemed as though someone had left the truck in fear of getting caught or because it didn't start, Arman said. Deputies found bolt cutters and a flashlight inside.
The next day, Sanchez reported that his truck was stolen the night before from a Target store. Detectives didn't buy the story. They had found a Home Depot receipt in the abandoned truck, which led them to store surveillance video showing Sanchez buying bolt cutters and a flashlight with his credit card.
"In law enforcement," Arman said, "you get lucky sometimes."
Detectives charged Sanchez with third-degree grand theft, possession of burglary tools and filing a false report to law enforcement. He also faces a felony charge of illegally transporting fuel in an improper container. He left the Orient Road Jail on Sunday after posting $2,000 bail, according to the jail.
A woman who answered his home phone Tuesday declined to comment.
Arman has been monitoring industrial company fuel thefts in a three-county area. They add up to about 25,000 gallons between June and July.
Sheriff's officials don't know if Sanchez is responsible for other thefts, but Arman said he thinks the crime is part of a bigger activity.
In the tank holding the stolen fuel, red dye-colored diesel was found. The special diesel is between 30 and 60 cents a gallon cheaper than normal diesel because it is tax-free and can be used legally only by farm, agriculture and industrial companies off the roads.
The Internal Revenue Service mandates the use of the dye to make it harder to sell on the black market or to use in vehicles. It also gives off a dark black smoke because it contains more sulfur than car and truck diesel.
Arman doesn't know who Sanchez was allegedly selling to, but he said the 800 gallons had a market value of at least $2,200.
According to AAA, the price of regular diesel fuel nationally rose half a cent from Monday to Tuesday to nearly $3.10 a gallon, 64 cents above last year's price.
The sergeant said he expects to see more such thefts. Fuel prices keep going up, and contracting companies and construction sites are places of opportunity - vacant at night.
Times staff writer Alexandra Zayas and researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Justin George can be reached at 813 226-3368 or jgeorge@sptimes.com.