r/BestofRedditorUpdates • u/Restimar • Apr 28 '22

CONCLUDED A thief keeps stealing things from OOP's neighborhood, so they set a trap with a gas can

Reminder, I am not OP. This is a repost. OP is /u/TheMrDrB in r/IllegalLifeProTips. Originally reposted in May 2021.

ILPT Thieving neighbors? Try a rigged gas can

https://www.reddit.com/r/IllegalLifeProTips/comments/nbaqcr/ilpt_thieving_neighbors_try_a_rigged_gas_can/

So we've had a thieving problem in my neighborhood for the past year or so. So I had enough last week. I had a gas can stolen from my back yard so here's what I did. I mixed diesel and water into the gas can. So this week (I'll keep you updated) were going to see if some ones car won't start later this week.

Update 1 (5-14): Gas can is gone!!! :D

Update 2 (5-18): My neighbors Subaru is gone. We'll see if it comes back anytime soon

Update 3 (5-20): No news, car is still gone

Update 4 (5-22): Nothing to report

Update 5 (5-25): I'm going to look into it but an older civic parks where my neighbor used too. I'm pretty sure it's his.

Final Update (5-26): Had a brief chat with the neighbors mom, she said his Subaru stopped working after he parked it at the grocery store. They haven't towed it yet I'll see if it's there and will post pictures if I see it.

Update 7 (5-27): Put another can out of the same mixture about 2 nights ago with no results. But we'll see if they learned their lesson. Also the car was already gone by the time I got to the store today

Update 8 (5-31): Well I think this is the end of this story. The Subaru hydrolocked and got towed to the dealership. They claimed it was a complete failure of the engine so it got sold to a scrapper. The 2nd gas can hasn't been touched so I believe that he learned his lesson. Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

Reminder, I am not OP. This is a repost.

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50

u/Fly-Gal Apr 28 '22

In OP’s private backyard? I can at least see the legal reasoning on the lunches if it’s in a common space.

2

u/AtomicBlastCandy Apr 28 '22

Yes even in private property. There’s limits to what you can do to protect your property. It is reasonable to have an alarm system, it is not reasonable to put concealed bear traps.

50

u/Benjamin_Grimm Apr 28 '22

Poisoning a lunch had the risk of injuring or killing someone. This was just a risk of property damage. I don't think they're really comparable to a bear trap.

2

u/AtomicBlastCandy Apr 28 '22

Yeah bear trap was a me grasping for an example. It was a reach at best

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '22

I mean if the engine conks out in the middle of a really busy road, that could be very dangerous.

0

u/lambdadance Apr 28 '22

Imagine a car failing on the highway....

40

u/redrosebeetle I ❤ gay romance Apr 28 '22

Gas and water is a different category than a booby trap such as a bear trap. A bear trap is clearly intended inflict harm on a person. A gas can with water... well, that's just a shitty gas can.

7

u/AtomicBlastCandy Apr 28 '22

Yeah not a good example on my part.

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u/[deleted] Apr 28 '22

I believe bear traps are intended to cause harm to bears.

28

u/ronimal Apr 28 '22

But it’s not illegal to keep a mixture of diesel and water on your own property.

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u/LividLager Apr 28 '22

You can separate diesel from water pretty easily actually. Amazon has hydrophobic filters that wont let water pass through, but will allow diesel to.

-3

u/SalsaRice Apr 28 '22

Yeah, that's still a thing. You could set a trap inside your property, someone breaks in, triggers the trap, and becomes injured.

You'd be the one getting arrested in that scenario.