A California truck rental company has been plagued by diesel thefts the last few weeks, leaving the company in a tight spot. 

Ali Khalil of Easy Truck Rental in Sacramento, California says that the recent thefts started when fuel prices began spiking, and they haven’t stopped since. According to Khalil, the thieves cut a hole in their fence, shimmy themselves and a tank inside, and then proceed to damage his truck’s fuel tanks to get at the now invaluable diesel fuel. 

“What they do is put a 5 or 10-gallon tank at the bottom and they literally poke a hole at the curb where they get the most fuel out,” Khalil said.

With this method of thievery, Khalil and Easy Truck Rental not only loses out on the fuel they’ve purchased, but with each theft, the company must replace an entire truck fuel tank, which only adds to the massive cost of trucking in today’s world. 

“Sometimes we feel like it would be better off for that guy to come and say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna steal your fuel.’ And we would rather give him the money,” Khalil said to Fox 40 News.

“[They’re stealing] Primarily from agricultural properties. I think we have been experiencing about 200-500 gallons of fuel tank at a time,” Lt. Juan Ceja said.

Khalil is now paying for overnight security at his lot, installed better lights on his property, and has even lined his fence with objects and items aimed at deterring thieves, but the damage has already been done. 

“We were only surviving for the drivers, and unfortunately, we had to let the drivers go because we weren’t making any money in it.”