ATKINSON — The mail trucks were stuck in the lot Monday morning, without any fuel for deliveries.
Three mail trucks had diesel fuel siphoned from them over the weekend, police Chief Philip Consentino said. He said he was contacted late Monday by the postmaster, who reported gas had been stolen for the second time this year.
At least three cars owned by the U.S. Postal Service had gas siphoned from them in late June. One of those cars was damaged. Another half a tank of gas was taken from the postmaster's Ford Explorer.
This time, Consentino said, the diesel trucks were hit.
"They're easier because it's a straight opening," he said. "Just open up the caps and it goes right into the tank."
Gas prices have gone down in the last two weeks, but diesel prices have not seen the same drop. The average price of gas in the state was $3.12 per gallon yesterday, compared with $3.78 for diesel, according to AAA.
The tanks were between half and three-quarters full when postal employees parked them last weekend. Consentino said trucks are usually parked in front of the building, but because the parking lot was being paved, the trucks were put in the side lot.
That lot, which is visible from Route 121, but better hidden by the building, is where the cars were parked when tanks were siphoned over the summer.
Consentino had few details about the latest theft. Whoever took the gas left less evidence than the last time, when the nozzle to a red gas can was left behind and the metal spout on a Mercury Sable was broken.
Police did not make an arrest in the June siphoning, and will add this weekend's crime to their investigation.
