Bayview food bank hit by gas thief

For the second time in four months, someone siphoned gasoline from Good Cheer Food Bank's delivery truck parked at the Bayview facility.

BAYVIEW — Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

For the second time in four months, someone siphoned gasoline from Good Cheer Food Bank’s delivery truck parked at the Bayview facility.

“We’re pretty hurt,” Damien Cortez, food bank coordinator, said Friday. “We’re here to help people. We can’t do that if people are stealing from us.”

Sometime Thursday night, someone pried off the plastic locking gas cap on the truck’s fuel tank and drained away about 12 gallons of fuel, Cortez said.

The locking cap had been attached about four months ago, after someone drained a full tank of gas, about 25 gallons, he said.

He said it costs about $60 to $100 to fill the truck, depending on the price of gasoline.

“The truck was parked where you could see it from the road,” Cortez said. “There were no suspicious vehicles. Whoever did it is pretty daring.”

He said the next step is to put a metal locking gas cap on the truck.

“We’re trying to fill the need for food,” he said. “We don’t have the budget to put up cameras and things like that. We don’t think we should have to.”