VIDEO: Thieves Swipe Gas From Orangevale Child Care Center Vans

ORANGEVALE (CBS13) — Surveillance video shows gas thieves targeting vans needed by children at an Orangevale child care center.

Thieves hit the Action Day Learning Center overnight, leaving behind discarded gas caps that tipped off employees that something was wrong.

It's not the first time it's happened. Staff say the facility has lost thousands of dollars over the years at the hands of gas thieves.

"When it first started happening, we got the locking gas caps, then, that wasn't working," said Lauri Lish.

When they tried the vehicles too close for thieves to access the caps, the thieves instead went underneath and drilled costly holes in the van's gas tanks.

Lish believes the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department could be doing more to patrol for gas thieves, but they say it's imperative to take measures to make property unattractive to bad guys.