Best Way to Catch a Scumbag.

[Deleted]

How do you know its him doing it?

[Kasierith]

Buy several crocodiles, create a moat around your house, fill it with swamp water, and put the crocs inside. Teach them to savor the taste of human flesh, so that when he attempts to cross they will attack. This solves not only any gas stealing problems, but prevents dogs from pooping in your yard, removes wandering salesmen, and deters raids from marauding knights.

Also, setting up a simple camera is an easy, cheap, and very legally viable solution.

[Felya]

Bugs Bunny would wear a dress to lure him out... Have you tried doing that?

[Deleted]

You guys are all right. I figured I'd get the enabling responses to beat his ass. But nah. You're all right, I will handle it legally. Though the investment of having to buy a camera AND leave it running all night just to catch a scumbag in the act is not something I thought I'd ever have to do given the quaint suburb I live in. I moved out of New Haven, CT for much worse reasons, (one of the worst crime cities in the country) and thought I'd be done with this bullshit.

Beat his ass bro

[Lessthanzer0]

i'd put up a camera to catch him, deflate all 4 of his tires and then i'd buy one of these...

[Deleted]

Eh have you tried confronting him personally? No nned to get yourself in trouble by messing with his sh*t..

[Deleted]

One way ticket to Belize ought to do the trick.

Warning: May contain humour.

[furriusmurrius]

One way ticket to Belize ought to do the trick.

Warning: May contain humour.

Belize? Pff. I'll send YOU to Belize, Saul.

[Gheld]

So this little shithead across the street thinks he can syphon my gas tank and get away with it. Hes a fat dumpy bastard and would definitely lose to me if it came to blows; I can't say I've ever particularly liked the kid, and whether or not he only got ~20 bucks of gas from my tank is not the point; it's the principle. Short of constantly monitoring my truck, I kind of want to catch the guy in the act or get back at him some way. Friends have already said dump sugar in his gas tank but that's me being the aggressor in the polices' eyes and the last thing I want to do is make myself guilty.

What would you do?

BTW. The gas cap is opened via a lever in the car; it's locked otherwise. Theres a nice gash by the gas tank where the little shit used a screwdriver to jimmy it open, so 'just get a locking gas cap' is out as far as options go.

So where to begin.

First of all: You have no idea that it's actually him. You're just making a brash assumption based on your own prejudices.

Secondly: 100 times out of 10 somebody says "it's the principle" they aren't worth siding with. Because if "it's the principle" that matters, basically it means your position is based upon your preposition of the situation and is un-swayed by inconvenient factors such as rationality.

Finally: If 'getting back at him some way' is your prerogative then that shows quite a bit about your character.

So based upon the information provided 1 of 2 things is possible:

#1. You're on an internet forum seeking international advice on getting revenge on somebody whom you don't even know for sure wronged you.
or
#2. There's more to this story than you are telling, which might suggest that there's a little more circle of karma involved in this that you are letting on; in which case my best advice would be to check your karma.

EDIT: Bonus statement; Anybody actually going along with you, given the fact that you've pretty much outright shown that you don't actually know it was him and are just singling him out as a suspect based on your own prejudices and seeking revenge ahead of actually proving the fact, makes me worried for the future of this species.

Fucking sickening.

[furriusmurrius]

So where to begin.

First of all: You have no idea that it's actually him. You're just making a brash assumption based on your own prejudices.

Secondly: 100 times out of 10 somebody says "it's the principle" they aren't worth siding with. Because if "it's the principle" that matters, basically it means your position is based upon your preposition of the situation and is un-swayed by inconvenient factors such as rationality.

Finally: If 'getting back at him some way' is your prerogative then that shows quite a bit about your character.

So based upon the information provided 1 of 2 things is possible:

#1. You're on an internet forum seeking international advice on getting revenge on somebody whom you don't even know for sure wronged you.
or
#2. There's more to this story than you are telling, which might suggest that there's a little more circle of karma involved in this that you are letting on; in which case my best advice would be to check your karma.

EDIT: Bonus statement; Anybody actually going along with you, given the fact that you've pretty much outright shown that you don't actually know it was him and are just singling him out as a suspect based on your own prejudices and seeking revenge ahead of actually proving the fact, makes me worried for the future of this species.

Fucking sickening.

He has been caught doing it on two other occasions in the immediate neighborhood; the two people who caught him (neighbor in the act; father after the fact due to a 2/3rd difference in his gas tank of his truck and noting him filling his own vehicle with a red gasoline can the following day - a common occurrence for filling a lawnmower, a vehicle in your driveway not so much) were nicer people than me; its true. I'm a vindictive person and I don't like the feeling of being taken advantage of, I'm human and flawed. You'll get over it.

Wanting to get back at someone for wronging me? You can say I've got bad juju floating around me and that karma is at fault here, but here's the bottom line - I'm broke and barely manage to scrape by as it is. You want me to turn the other cheek when I'm damn sure I know the perp is smiling at me from across the street after ripping me off? I'm sorry. That may feel like sainthood to you. But to me that feels like being a gigantic damn pussy.

Sickening is right. Grow some balls before projecting your own karma insecurities onto me. I don't like being ripped off and I assemble contextual evidence to form an opinion of a person. Everyone else has either had funny joke ideas on how to get back at him, or genuine ideas about how to catch the kid. But you just seem to be getting lightheaded from your high horse perched atop your ivory tower of privilege.

[Deleted]

Don't confront him, even if you do it politely, because in the absence of evidence he can accuse you of harassment.

Just get the camera and take the recording it to the police. It may seem like an unneeded expense now, but you might find use for it again at some point.

Otherwise, maybe get a car alarm with a proximity sensor (just be prepared to become universally hated, because my neighbor's seems to go off whenever a cat or dog walks by). You should be able to run downstairs before he makes it across the street

[Tileyfa]

Ask someone with a diesel motor to park in your driveway, he siphons that & puts it in his car, it's his own fault.

*Note I did not google what would happens with gasoline & diesel mix, but it can't be good for the car.

[Ciddy]

Get a camera. You can get a halfway decent one for very cheap. You can get one of those 4-camera DVR sets at places like Wal Mart for less than $200. They're not the highest quality things in the world, but they work. And those cameras will likely pay for themselves at some point. Then point a camera towards your truck, let it go for a few days, and catch him in the act. Then show it to the cops.

If you got caught pouring sugar in his gas tank or just beating his ass with no proof that he did anything wrong to you, it'd just get you in trouble. The law will see you as the bad guy and him as the victim, and you'll be the one potentially dealing with legal problems/fines/jail time.

I'm not a cop/lawyer, but at least for most places in the US, I'm pretty sure you can legally monitor your own property in just about any situation.

edit: also, I got curious and looked up what happens when you put diesel in a non-diesel vehicle after reading Tileyfa's post. Here is what I found (and my brother, who is a mechanic, confirmed it):
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-e...n-unleaded.htm

So apparently...it doesn't cause any real permanent damage, but he'd be dealing with a bit of work to get the diesel cleaned out of his engine before it runs properly again. It would cost him some money if he didn't know how to do it himself.

[Moadar]

I've put diesel in a regular gas vehicle and it's pretty funny. Truck made it a 1/4 mile then started billowing massive clouds of black smoke. They had to drop the gas tank and purge all the diesel out of the fuel lines.

[Gheld]

He has been caught doing it on two other occasions in the immediate neighborhood; the two people who caught him (neighbor in the act; father after the fact due to a 2/3rd difference in his gas tank of his truck and noting him filling his own vehicle with a red gasoline can the following day - a common occurrence for filling a lawnmower, a vehicle in your driveway not so much) were nicer people than me; its true. I'm a vindictive person and I don't like the feeling of being taken advantage of, I'm human and flawed. You'll get over it.

Wanting to get back at someone for wronging me? You can say I've got bad juju floating around me and that karma is at fault here, but here's the bottom line - I'm broke and barely manage to scrape by as it is. You want me to turn the other cheek when I'm damn sure I know the perp is smiling at me from across the street after ripping me off? I'm sorry. That may feel like sainthood to you. But to me that feels like being a gigantic damn pussy.

Sickening is right. Grow some balls before projecting your own karma insecurities onto me. I don't like being ripped off and I assemble contextual evidence to form an opinion of a person. Everyone else has either had funny joke ideas on how to get back at him, or genuine ideas about how to catch the kid. But you just seem to be getting lightheaded from your high horse perched atop your ivory tower of privilege.

Nothing you describes proves anything. Nor do I have any reason to believe that you didn't just make it up to save face from being called out.

[dwightyo39]

Video the "scumbag" to see if it really is him. Pour a mixture of foul smelling liquids (think rotten tuna juice/piss/the liquid that collects in bottom of a yard waste garbage can) in the vents by his windshield. If he leaves his car unlocked you could put chicken livers under his car seat.

Then its up to you if you want to show the video to the police or not.

[eja216]

Bugs Bunny would wear a dress to lure him out... Have you tried doing that?

This answer is too much win to let it go by without additional recognition.

But seriously, did you think you'd get any other viable answer than, "video tape him?"

[Belize]

Burn down his house. With gas you siphoned out of his own gas tank.