With the price of gas as high as it is, many Americans are driving less. Those who don’t have that option are feeling the pain in their wallets.
It seems like only a dream several years ago under President Trump when gas was 75% less than it is now.
Certainly, the global situation has gotten worse and the war between Russia and Ukraine is hurting the price at the pumps. However, it’s also Biden’s anti-energy, Green New Deal obsession that’s brought us to this point.
Well, not everyone is going along with it. The recent arrest of a gang of six gas thieves in Florida shows just how much some are trying to profit from the chaos.
Gas Gang Arrested, One Still at Large
Two months ago in February, cops in Florida started a dragnet mission called Operation Empty Tank. The purpose was to catch a gang of gas thieves who were working near Tampa Bay and other parts of the state.
Red flags started to show up after several gas stations near Tampa noticed their tanks were short almost $25,000 in fuel. That’s a serious shortage, and they realized they’d been cheated out of gas. The question was who and how.
Cops started looking and they found a pattern. They noticed a group of trucks pulling in and out of the robbed stations over the day and filling up. These were the culprits.
Cops investigated and found out the clever methods that were used by this group of fuel felons. It turns out they were hacking the pumps by putting on a pulsation app that messed up the pump’s ability to accurately charge for pumped gas.
This left the thieves paying only a few cents per gallon. With the price now where they wanted it, they showed up with large trucks, pumped gas into huge tanks they had waiting in the back for a couple of bucks, then drove away, unloaded, and came back.
Operation Empty Tank: “Don’t think for a minute that these suspects were tampering with the gas pumps in order to ease the burden on everyday drivers,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “No. They were in this only to line their own pockets.” pic.twitter.com/N87Q7Zoa8P
— HCSO (@HCSOSheriff) April 4, 2022
A Profitable Ploy
Looking further into the scam from this gang of gas thieves, Florida cops found out these pump punks were taking the stolen gas and selling it off at discounted rates to truck drivers.
By looking closer at the footage, cops were able to eventually track down this gang and arrest five of them. The sixth is still at large and is believed to be the leader of the group. His name is Willian Penate-Arencibia.
Cops in Florida’s Hillsborough County say they found $60,000 total in gas was stolen at seven stations, but they think the true number will actually turn out to be much higher.
Operation Empty Tank: Announcing the arrest of 6 individuals who’s organized crime ring stole more than $60,000.00 in fuel from local gas stations, by tampering with the pumps and then reselling the stolen gas. pic.twitter.com/vHqmwVjjhe
— Chad Chronister (@ChadChronister) April 4, 2022
The Bottom Line
Willian Penate-Arencibia is still evading the cops. It won’t necessarily be easy to find him.
These are clever and sneaky criminals, not blockheads; it’s stunning to think they managed to steal this much gas for days and days before police noticed.
