Gas Thief Found Asleep at the Scene of the Crime

A Swifty gas station in Muncie wasn't open for business when the driver of a white van attempted to fill up.

But 38-year-old Brad Hodson wasn't filling his tank. Police say a 55-gallon barrel was in the back of his van.

Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle explains, "He had pulled up next to the underground tank and had put a homemade siphoning hose in the underground tank."

Hodson used batteries to do the actual siphoning. But in the process, Chief Winkle says Hodson apparently fell asleep. "The fact it was 5:30 in the morning, he may have just got tired trying to fill that large drum up with gasoline. I'm not sure how fast that happened, but it probably took a little while and he probably just sat back."

And that's how the station manager discovered Hodson when he came to open shop for the day just after five a.m.