Free Fuel! – Police Bust Thieves Caught Stealing 4,200 Gallons of Gas With Clever Scheme

Gas is incredibly expensive to the point where some of us might just wish that we could close our eyes, squeeze that handle, and have gasoline flow out for free. How nice would it be to get incredibly cheap of even free fuel in an age where this stuff has become a major expense?

For most, this idea is nothing but a dream. However, one Florida man took it into his own hands to make this dream a reality. What he was doing to achieve this fantasy, though, wasn’t exactly legal.

In an effort that almost sounds like something out of a heist movie, several individuals worked together in order to trick gasoline pumps into giving them free or heavily discounted fuel. Basically, the scheme was to break into the pumps and install a “fuel manipulator” device, according to WKRN News 2. Essentially, the device would trick the gas pump into lowering the price or dispensing fuel at a faster rate than what the pump is registering, thus giving criminals a pretty cheap way to fill up.

From there, after filling up their tanks, the criminals would head away from the gas station, dump the fuel, and come back later. Apparently, they did this all day long in Hendersonville, Tennessee, to the tune of 4200 gallons stolen in just several hours.

Just imagine if the sort of brainpower required to figure something like this out was applied for good instead of evil. We would bet that something incredibly productive could happen as a result.

Only one man, Rolando Javier Rodriguez has been caught so far. Rodriguez has been charged with both vandalism and theft over $10,000.

Sure, gasoline and diesel are both expensive these days but we would probably recommend just paying for your fuel, no matter how bad it hurts at the pump.