More than 100,000 liters of gasoline are stolen from a gas station refueling machine

A total of six suspects were arrested on suspicion of stealing about 30,000 gallons (about 114,000 liters) of gasoline from a gas station at a gas station in Sunnyvale, California.

Sunnyvale gasoline thefts: Six threats of pump manipulation
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/12/22/six-arrested-after-sunnyvale-gas-station-robberies-total-200000-in-losses/

3 more suspects arrested in Sunnyvale gas station thefts totaling 30,000 gallons - CBS San Francisco
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/sunnyvale-gas-station-thefts-valero/

The incident occurred on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at a Valero Energy gas station in Sunnyvale. A police officer rushed to the scene after receiving a report from an employee at the monitoring station, stopped two vehicles that were acting suspiciously, and arrested three men on suspicion of theft and possession/receipt of stolen goods. . According to the Sunnyvale Public Safety Department, one of them had a felony affidavit.

A review of surveillance video footage showed that one suspect had activated a gas pump, while another had illegally refueled his vehicle. The suspects' technique involved tampering with the pump between 75 seconds and two minutes after the credit card was swiped through the machine until the card was approved by the network, according to Valero. employees describe the technique as “nearly untraceable.”

At the same gas station, the same kind of gasoline theft occurred on Wednesday, December 14, and three people were arrested. At that time, the police said, ``The suspects interfered with the operation of the security device for several weeks and colluded in an operation to steal a large amount of gasoline using electronic equipment.''

According to police, the two incidents are related and the total amount of stolen gasoline is estimated to be about 30,000 gallons (about 114,000 liters), worth about $ 180,000 (about 23.9 million yen). increase. The general sales volume of this gas station is 5000 gallons (about 18,900 liters) a day, so you can see the amount stolen.

In addition, more than 160 g of methamphetamine (narcotic) and 13 types of tablets including tadalafil used for ED treatment etc. , the suspect is also charged with fraud by gaining unauthorized access to a computer and possession of methamphetamine for sale.

It was never revealed why the suspect put the methamphetamine in the trash.