Hundreds of gallons of fuel stolen from Midlands gas station leads to arrest, cops say

A Florida man is in a Midlands jail after an elaborate scheme to steal hundreds of gallons of gas was discovered, the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

The sheriff’s office said the scheme was “an elaborate plot to steal fuel, as well as defraud unknowing people.”

Lucas Paul Reyes was arrested on multiple charges Tuesday, jail records show. No bond has been set, and the 20-year-old Hialeah, Florida, resident remains locked up at the Newberry County Detention Center, according to jail records.

Reyes was caught in the act at a Pilot Travel Center while a deputy was investigating a previous incident where several hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel were stolen from the gas station/convenience store, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The Pilot station is next to Exit 82 on Interstate 26.

As the deputy and the station manager reviewed surveillance films, they saw someone, later identified as Reyes, pumping diesel fuel into a pickup truck, and determined the vehicle was the same from the previous crime, according to the release.

The deputy tried to arrest Reyes, who pulled away and attempted to drive off, but after a brief confrontation, he was detained and arrested, the sheriff’s office said. Further information on the confrontation was not available.

Reyes was charged with driving without a license, resisting arrest, financial transaction card theft, financial transaction card fraud, breaking into a fuel tank, and violation of the computer crime act, according to the release.

“I guess the criminal does return to the scene of the crime,” Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said in the release.

Foster complimented the deputy and store manager for being alert and noticing the same vehicle at the busy location.

The scheme

Further investigation showed that Reyes was using stolen credit card numbers and forged credit cards to activate the fuel pumps, and he was also altering the mechanisms on the fuel pump, according to the release.

Foster said the mechanism Reyes was using to steal gas while using the stolen credit card information was “ingenious.”

Reyes would pump the fuel into the pickup truck, then a rigged pump on the undercarriage of the truck would transfer the fuel to a bladder in an enclosed trailer, the sheriff’s office said.

The stolen credit card numbers came from a skimmer device placed on gas pumps, which can read and record the credit card numbers as the card is placed into a gas pump, according to the release. The devices are hard to recognize, the sheriff’s office said.

There was no word on an exact amount of fuel that was stolen during the scheme. Information about any other people being involved in the scheme was not available.

Be on the lookout

Foster warned customers to look at the credit card slot on a gas pump or any machine that takes credit/debit cards and is unattended, saying most times the skimmer is placed over the credit card orifice and is not firmly secured. The skimmer can be easily detected by wiggling the slot before the card is swiped or scanned, according to the release.

Anyone who recently bought gas in the area is encouraged to look at their credit/debit card statements thoroughly to determine if any charges are made that were not made by the owner. The sheriff’s office said if you find an unusual charge, call the credit card company immediately and then report it to your local law enforcement.

Investigators are working with other law enforcement agencies across South Carolina that have had similar incidents, according to the release.

This story was originally published June 15, 2022 at 12:55 PM.

Noah Feit

The State

803-771-8435

Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription