SAN MARINO : $24,000 in Gasoline Pump Hoses Stolen

Chevron station owner Ken Barnes said he always felt safe when he locked up each night about 10 p.m.--he’s so close to the San Marino police station that he can see the front door. But Friday morning he got a rude awakening--a 5 a.m. call from a station attendant who had discovered the theft of $24,000 worth of hoses off the gasoline pumps.

“I’m a little perturbed,” said Barnes, who owns the Chevron station at Huntington Drive and Monterey Road. “I asked (police) what they were doing. (Thieves) couldn’t have done that in five minutes. Even working fast, they were here a half-hour.”

Barnes had replaced almost all the stolen hoses by Friday afternoon.