Thieves target farm diesel supplies as prices soar

With the price of diesel skyrocketing, farmers and ranchers around the country are being targeted by ne’er-do-wells armed with syphon hoses and pumps.

Sheldon Wilder, who owns a cotton gin 30 miles east of Memphis, Tenn., has endured worse already. Twice in two weeks, he had diesel drained from saddlebag tanks on a truck at his gin. The second time the thieves left the hoses loose and what diesel they didn’t steal drained out onto the ground.

“You get irritated, but that’s life,” he said of the combined 300 gallons taken in the thefts. “It’s just people who want some money.”

AP