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Clarence Rickett has had a few bad days as of late. When he's arrived to open his Sunny Foods Shell Gas Station on Riverchase Parkway East he's found a significant discrepancy in the amount of Premium Gas in his tanks.
Rickett has been victimized by a gas theft ring that has removed more than 1200 gallons of fuel from his tanks in the last week.
Initially Rickett believed the thieves were siphoning the fuel directly from the holding tanks after hours, but an alarm early Friday morning at the gas station found otherwise.
Hoover police arrived just after midnight to find two trucks loaded with 500 gallon tanks connected to two pumps at the station. Four men were on the scene, but three escaped capture.
Rickett says he was called out and was amazed to find how sophisticated the operation appeared.
He says that the thieves had keys to open the pump housing and computer pads, that when connected to the pumps, would allow the thieves to override the computer from Automatic to Manual. This allowed the thieves to pump directly into their tanks without leaving any sign of forced entry on the property.
Rickett says the keys for the pumps are special and not easily obtained... traditionally the only ones with these keys would be pump maintenance crews. The pads too are not commonly obtained leaving Rickett to believe that the four men are not alone in this operation. "I wouldn't be surprised if multiple thefts like this are going on all over."
Hoover police were not available to comment, as it is a holiday. The man in police custody has not been identified, and no charges are known at this time.
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