Diesel thieves wreak havoc on California farmers

BAKERSFIELD, California (CNN) — Standing in a field of organic tomatoes, farmer Pete Belluomini says the ground-cracking drought and unrelenting insects make it difficult enough to make a living on the land.

But they are the least of his concern these days as a new menace haunts farmers in Bakersfield, California: diesel thieves.


Sgt. Walt Reed of the Kern County Sheriff’s Department and a member of California’s Rural Crimes Task Force said that more than $300,000 worth of diesel fuel was stolen in Kern County in the past three months.

“It’s an epidemic, gigantic problem,” Reed said. “In Kern County alone, we’re getting reports of five to seven diesel thefts from farms a week. It’s happening in other parts of the San Joaquin Valley, too.”

The crooks work around the clock, searching during the daytime for irrigation pumps run by diesel engines and supply tanks filled with diesel or gasoline, police and farmers say. They return at night, with their headlights off, to steal hundreds of gallons of fuel at a time.

What are the thieves doing with the stolen diesel?

Reed suspects that they’re selling the fuel to truckers who’ve been hit hard by skyrocketing prices. With the national average of regular unleaded gasoline at a record high of about $4.00 a gallon and more than $4.75 per gallon for diesel, according to AAA, Reed says it makes it even harder for them resist the temptation of cheap fuel.

CNN