- 19-year-old man allegedly made off with over $40,000 worth of gasoline
- He is said to have done so over the span of six months
- The suspect was able to activate the pump without paying
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There are certain truths in life recognized by just about all humans: bacon is tasty, Leon’s Furniture won’t have what its advertising in stock, and stealing is wrong. But one man in the San Diego area of California failed to learn the latter — and allegedly stole over $40,000 worth of gasoline over the span of about six months.
Andrew Gerardo Escobedo, a 19-year-old man was arrested by local cops earlier this week after making away with about 9,000 gallons of fuel. His alleged scheme involved manipulating a pump at a specific gas station, somehow tricking it into thinking the transaction was paid for when in fact it was not. Officials are perhaps understandably keeping details under wraps but, in a nutshell, it seems the man was able to activate the fueling system without charging his card. The pump would dispense fuel without the payment being processed.
This scheme is said to have gone on for months, with the suspect alleged to have visited the station at least twice a week since June. Software on the back end seems to have noted discrepancies between the amount of fuel dispensed and recorded sales, but it took an actual human looking at security footage with their own two eyes to bust the guy. It didn’t help his chances that he kept going to the same station in the same vehicle. It is alleged he swiped about $2,000 worth of fuel per visit.
Cops showed up on the scene in early December when employees blew the whistle, appearing just as the accused was at the pumps yet again. This time, he was filling numerous containers in the back of his SUV, suggesting at least some of the 9,000+ gallons (35,000+ litres) may have been sold for profit. After all, it would be difficult to burn through about 6,000 litres per month in a GMC Yukon; that’s nearly 200 litres per day. Assuming his older truck returns somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15.0 L/100km, he’d have to drive north of 1,300 kilometres every 24 hours to use all of it in his vehicle.
With the number of containers in the back of this SUV, some of them open, we can only imagine the stench of gasoline fumes — the presence of which raises a whole host of separate issues including alertness of the driver and, you know, general explosions. One spark and this guy could have easily obliterated an entire intersection and plenty of innocent bystanders.
Crime doesn’t pay, folks. Be safe out there.
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