Oil was stolen from the Klukwan clinic’s fuel tank in May, according to Bob Grant, building attendant supervisor for the SEARHC clinic. He estimated that the amount of oil stolen amounted to a $1,200 loss.
Grant said the clinic’s 250-gallon fuel tank was filled May 8. On May 25, a co-worker notified him the tank was empty.
Grant said there’s “no way” the clinic could have used up that much oil during those 17 days and that it must have been stolen. “That’s a lot of oil…and I couldn’t find a drop of it” when investigating the area, he said.
He doesn’t know the exact day the oil was stolen and notes that the thief, or thieves, may have come multiple days, considering the amount taken. The tank is “out of sight,” he said.
Grant said he heard of similar thefts at the Klukwan and Mosquito Lake schools. Chikat Indian Village officials, however, said they couldn’t definitively say the school was missing oil. Mosquito Lake School maintenance man Jim Stanford said oil was stolen from the school once three or four years ago, and the thief was found.
Grant attributed the thefts to the increase in oil prices as well as to the proximity of the buildings targeted. “They all have something in common. They’re kind of remote,” he said.