As gas prices soar, thieves grow brazen

Bobby Lee Julien, who's driven a fuel tanker for 27 years, was near the end of his route. It was 3 a.m. when he pulled up at a stop sign off State Highway 225 in Houston.

It took only a few seconds for the masked man to rip open the passenger door, jump in and point a gun at Julien, 52.

"I begged him not to shoot me," Julien said. "I feared for my life. The whole time he had a gun pointed at me."

It wasn't Julien's life the gunman wanted that morning of May 5: "He said he wanted the truck. He wanted the fuel."

The truck was recovered three days later. Police said its fuel load would probably be sold on the black market, which is thriving as average pump prices approach $4 a gallon.

With siphons, pumps, saws — and sometimes lethal weapons — gasoline thieves are on the hunt.