Criminals are resorting to nefarious methods to avoid the pain of sharply rising gasoline prices. Police departments across the United States and Canada are recording an increase in so-called drive-off gasoline thefts. In some cases, tools were used to puncture and drain gas tanks. “We put out some social media recently warning people that we are seeing a few cases of suspects using power drills to puncture a hole and siphon gas,” said Kerby Duncan, acting public information officer for the Everett, Washington, Police Department. “There have only been a few cases of this and we wanted to educate our community on how to protect themselves, [but] with sharply rising gas prices, we would expect to see more,” Duncan said. At a family-owned gas station in Houston last week, thieves reportedly siphoned 1,000 gallons of diesel from an underground tank using a minivan equipped with a trap door. The estimated value of the …