Arrest made in rural fuel theft

By Larry Judkins

Glenn County Observer

Note to fuel thieves:

If you’re going to steal fuel in rural areas, perhaps you should consider committing your crimes in the early morning hours, rather after sunup when people start waking up and moving about.

At roughly 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, March 2, a man called the Glenn County Sheriff’s Office to report that he just witnessed someone in a pickup leaving the property of his (the caller’s) neighbor, and he believed the driver of the truck had stolen fuel from the neighbor.

The caller also said he was following the pickup and the trailer it was pulling.

Perhaps realizing he was being followed, the driver of the truck began traveling more or less randomly on the roads south of Orland, driving on County Roads P, 18, M, 24, 25, and 21, to name some of them.

Near the southwest corner of the intersection of County Roads P and 24, on the south side of Road 24, the driver of the pickup either lost or dumped a 500-gallon tank of fuel. The pickup driver then left the scene.

Some fuel leaked from the tank and the Orland Fire Department was called to the scene to deal with the hazardous material spill. Absorbent was spread over the fuel on the ground.

Before the firefighters cleared the P and 24 scene, a call went out to the Orland Fire Department that there was another fuel spill on County Road 25, west of County Road P.

This spill was quite a bit larger than the one at P and 24. When the firefighters left the P and 24 scene, they went to the incident on County Road 25, joining the firefighters who were already there.

A few minutes after arriving at the Road 25 scene, Orland Fire Chief Justin Chaney told the Glenn County Sheriff’s dispatcher that thief or thieves stole more than just fuel. Batteries and computer items were also taken.

Meanwhile, the pickup and trailer had left the roadways and entered an orchard. After several minutes of searching, Glenn County Sheriff’s deputies found the pickup and driver in an orchard south of County Road 21, east of County Road M.

The pickup, a Ford F-350, was towed from the area by Al Quintel, owner of Zips Towing. The trailer was left in the orchard.

Watch for an update in Monday’s Glenn County Observer.