When Keith Kargl stopped at the Marcy Holmes’ Holiday Station Store on Aug. 29, he didn’t realize he was filling up his car for someone else.
The 33-year-old Graco operations manager went inside the store at 107 6th St. S.E. to pay for his gasoline. A man then entered his 1999 Toyota Avalon and began to drive away.
Kargl — who left his checkbook, briefcase and keys inside the vehicle — ran out of the store and grabbed the steering wheel as the perpetrator drove away.
The victim held on for 30 feet before letting go. He sustained only minor injuries — a skinned knee — and torn trousers.
Minneapolis police Lt. Steve Kincaid said the suspect is a white male with brown hair, over six feet tall, bearded and scruffy looking.
Kargl said a man fitting that description has been forging checks at various Minneapolis bars, including Bunker’s Bar and Grill, which refused to comment on the case.
As far as forged checks go, “businesses are the victims,” said Sgt. E.T. Nelson of the Forgery Unit at the Minneapolis Police Department. In order for the perpetrator to be caught and charged, businesses have to file a report, which they often fail to do.
Tim Coggins, manager of the Holiday gas station, said the theft of Kargl’s car was one of three auto thefts in the last month.
Coggins said the problem lies in customers leaving keys in their cars and, in some cases, leaving their cars running.
Kincaid added the rise in auto thefts and attempted auto thefts is due to the popularity of the movie “Gone in 60 Seconds.”
Car thefts are not the only crime the Holiday store has experienced recently. As gas prices climb, Coggins says he has witnessed five or more people each week fill up their tanks and take off without paying.
Kargl’s Toyota Avalon has yet to be recovered.