State officials in Florida have said that four men in Tampa were apprehended for tampering with gas pumps and stealing fuel.
The men have been charged with felonies.
The crime is said to be hard to detect when thieves illegally manipulate parts inside fuel dispensers to retrieve gas.
“They’re changing the pulsar. This reads how many gallons and how many dollars that you’re paying for the fuel,” said the Florida Petroleum Marketers.
So, the suspects were only paying dollars to fill up their tanks instead of hundreds. They then left the gas station with the gas that they didn’t purchase.
Last week, the suspects were identified as Rogelio Llerena and Yulier Garcia-Martinez who are accused of stealing the gas. The latter even had a homemade device to use for assistance.
Yordian Diaz-Benitez was observed using the pulsar tampering device, and Marlon Rosel- Rodriguez was accused of trying to install the device at the same place.
Authorities say they are attempting to eradicate the problem.
“Anytime you have fuel theft, it’s a major problem,” said the executive director of FPM.