Teens Charged With Vandalism

From WFIE 14 News in Evansville, Indiana

According to a Gibson County heating and air technician (HVac tech) area teens are actively ‘huffing’ refrigerant to get high. Refrigerant, a chemical coolant most commonly found in air conditioners, refrigerators, and car engines contains high concentrations of toxic compounds that can elicit cognitive impairments and limit brain functioning if ingested.

The HVac tech describes the alarming influx of calls he has received over the past few months, all from local customers requesting repairs be made to their ‘faulty’ air conditioning systems. After receiving 10 customer calls in one month from “clients claiming to have similar problems… missing service caps and empty tanks of refrigerant,” the technician called the police- on a hunch that local teens were behind the tamperings.

After a thorough investigation of the vandalized AC units, police confirmed that local teens had in fact been ‘huffing’ the refrigerant - “taking the fill caps off the AC units to access the refrigerant for a quick high.” Several Gibson County teens were implicated in the incidents and are facing stiff penalties for stealing refrigerant. The investigation is ongoing.

Exposure to refrigerant can prompt painful chemical burns, frost bite, permanent vision loss, and even death. These dangers are the reason HVac technicians are required to wear gloves and special eye wear when installing refrigerant into a unit. Many technicians recommend homeowners to purchase special locks for their AC units to deter such acts of vandalism.