Police say recent gas thefts are result of current economic woes

A motorist prepares to pump gasoline. (AP Photo)

In June, Pharr police responded to a Stripes located at 1901 North Tesoro regarding a fuel theft using a device that was installed by a suspect with the help of another man, who used his truck to block the suspect from the store’s surveillance camera while the pump was tampered with, according to a criminal complaint.

The store manager reported that theft resulted in the loss of 590 gallons of diesel which is estimated to be $3,008 in value, the complaint said.

Police arrested Armando Vera Jr., 28, from Donna, and 50-year-old Marcos Escobar of Edinburg for theft of petroleum product.

In July, a Donna man was arrested after confessing to stealing fuel from a convenience store located on the 1000 block of W. Frontage Road.

According to the news release, Victor Hugo Oviedo, 32, stole at least 9,157 gallons of fuel which is estimated to cost about $42,000 at the current price of gasoline.

Chief Deputy Johnny Gonzalez of the Pharr Police Department believes the uptick in recent fuel thefts are due to a cocktail of current circumstances.

“I think it’s a combination of the economy right now, due to the inflation and due to the fact that gas is where it’s at,” Gonzalez said. “They found methods to where they’re able to bypass the programs that the pumps have and without the cashier noticing.”

Gonzalez says these methods and the makeshift device used at the Pharr convenience store is more sophisticated than what the police are used to and something they’ve never experienced before.

He explained that the Stripes thieves found a way to open the pump, which is normally only accessed by employees or someone with a key, and installed a device that allowed them to turn on the pump without alerting employees.

The thieves closed the compartment door before anyone became suspicious and left.

“It wasn’t detected until one of the cashiers actually went outside and was able to observe this person pumping this gas,” Gonzalez said.

The chief deputy believes the device might’ve been created by someone who’s worked on gas pumps before.

Gonzalez went on to say that due to the sophisticated nature of the crime, the police department’s main goal was to alert other gas stations of the potential threat and to remain vigilant.

As Gonzalez puts it, it’s not uncommon for a driver to station themselves at a gas pump whether it be to eat or use their phone, but now employees will have to be aware of what those stationed drivers might be doing.

“Once the person leaves, it’s going to be really hard to detect because, in this particular case, the cashier doesn’t know if any gas was pumped or not,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not until their monthly audit that they say, ‘Hey, man, we’re low on fuel here, what happened?’”

Gonzalez says that despite his belief that some of the gas thefts were committed by copycat criminals, he also believes there’s a chance there’s groups of people communicating with each other and working together.

“There’s got to be that one person who knows how to make this device,” Gonzalez said.

He adds that he believes the gas thieves steal in order to resell the fuel or for personal use and gave a ballpark estimate of $10,000 worth of stolen fuel in Pharr alone at the time of the interview.

Vera, Escobar and Oviedo made bail in July and were released from jail.