Security video shows man stealing flammable gas tanks

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Police are looking for whoever stole 10 steel tanks full of flammable gas from a plumbing company.

Security footage from Ferrer Mechanical Services shows a man stealing the tanks around 8:30 Sunday night.

Owner Kris Griffith said workers for the company use the gases as a torch to weld pipes. He said this is the fourth time thieves struck his business in the past year.

His video shows a truck pull into the parking lot near S. Lynhurst Drive and W. Raymond Street. A man hops out and spends more than a minute trying to open a locked cage with bolt cutters and failing.

“We welded a cover over the lock to make that a little more difficult,” Griffith said.

The thief walked out of the camera’s view then he returned with another tool.

In the video, he can been seen breaking the lock, removing three tanks and then walking them back to his car. He then pulls the car closer to the cage.

“Just in shock at how calm and comfortable this individual looks while stealing from somebody else,” Griffith said.

The man keeps a cigarette in his mouth for much of the video, even as he loads tank after tank of flammable gas into his truck.

He took only the full tanks and left several empty cylinders behind.

“Other than using [the gas] for construction, I’m not quite sure what one would use them for,” Griffith said.

Griffith said this is the second time someone broke into the cage.

He installed the cameras because thieves had already struck his business multiple times.

He’s hoping someone can enhance the video to catch the suspect’s license plate.

“We really feel like it’s a theft from all 62 members of our team, not just myself and my partners,” he said.

Griffith said, if he can’t get those items back, the theft will cost about $2,000.

If you recognize the suspect, call Crime Stoppers. The number is 317-262-8477.