Video: Texas Police Officer Spots Gas Thieves' Trick at Pump
Texas police nabbed two women for stealing over $2,000 worth of fuel from a gas station when they returned to the location to try to make off with more last week.
The incident happened Aug. 11 when Grapevine police responded to a report concerning possible fuel theft at a 7-Eleven in Grapevine, KDFW-TV reports. The call to police came after station monitoring by the corporate office had found a large amount of fuel coming from a pump at the Grapevine location.
When police arrived at the station, a black Honda sedan sped away, and a motorcycle officer gave chase. Another officer remained at the station, and dashboard camera footage released by the department shows him investigating a pickup truck that had been sitting at a pump for a while.
A closer look at the truck found that it was equipped with a fuel-stealing device. The truck also was outfitted with a 250-gallon auxiliary fuel tank in the bed of the vehicle.
"The device will trick the company into looking like you’re only spending a few dollars in fuel when really, you’re getting thousands of dollars’ worth of fuel potentially," police spokeswoman Amanda McNew told KDFW.
Two women in the sedan were taken into custody, and they allegedly confessed to using the device to steal 460 gallons of diesel fuel, according to police. They are charged with engaging in engaging in organized criminal activity.
This was the ninth time since November that Grapevine police have responded to a fuel theft report; it's the first time officers have made an arrest. After stealing the fuel from the station, thieves then resell it to truck drivers, ride-share services and fuel yards, according to police.
"They get arrested, they bond out on low bond—or no bond—and we will capture them on surveillance video stealing fuel sometimes the very next day," Jeff Roberts, lead investigator with the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center, which investigates organized financial crimes, told KDFW.
