By Clarence Williams and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 9, 2008

Two tank trucks laden with diesel fuel were reported stolen yesterday morning in Prince William County, but one of them was recovered last night after it caught the eye of a woman in Baltimore, authorities said.

The theft of the Mack trucks from the S.W. Rodgers Co. in Gainesville was widely reported yesterday. Descriptions and tag numbers were broadcast on radio and television. One of the vehicles contained about 2,000 gallons; the other, about 1,000 gallons, Prince William police said. The vehicle with the smaller load was the one found, authorities said.

"A woman who heard about it on the news spotted it," said Baltimore police detective Nicole Monroe. "She called 911, and she was right on the money," Monroe said.

Monroe said the vehicle seemed somewhat out of place in what she described as an urban, working-class neighborhood about five miles west of the Inner Harbor.

Perhaps less incongruous was the truck's color scheme: orange for the cab, black for the company's name. The colors suggest those of the Baltimore Orioles.

County police officers said the stolen trucks were used to transport fuel for heavy construction equipment. They were taken from a gated lot on Wellington Road. Locks at the lot had been cut, police said.

Police were looking for the second truck last night.

The incident occurred about four months after a tank truck was stolen in Baltimore and taken to Washington.

Staff writer Eric Weiss contributed to this report.