Police officer steals fuel 150 times in eight months!
Oct 26 2007 (BILLINGS, MT) – Cody Adams, a former Fort Belknap police officer has been sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay more than $2,200 in restitution for using a government-issued gasoline card to buy fuel for his personal vehicle.
Court records say Adams took the Government Services Administration gas card (Voyager) from the Fort Belknap Police Department and used it more than 150 times between August 2006 and March 2007. The U.S. Attorney's office says he was caught after a GSA employee in Oklahoma noticed incorrect odometer readings for the card.
PowerUp Fleet Analysis: At least in this case something went right in that the ability to enter odometer readings finally tripped Adams up. Our feeling is that odometer readings are key to detecting abuse as much as they are for determining that a vehicle is performing properly. Where the police department failed is in not more closely monitoring the MPG to see if there were abnormal deviations occurring from time to time. Of course, you have to enforce your drivers to comply first, and anyone who refuses to consistently and accurately enter their odometer should be considered suspect. A properly monitored fuel purchasing system would have likely caught this thief in the first couple of months.
Richmond Ambulance Authority taken for $20,000! Richmond City audit triggers investigation.
October 11, 2007 (Richmond VA) - Tyree Sutton, 28, has been indicted for larceny stemming from what Richmond prosecutors say was the theft of more than $20,000 in gas through city fuel cards issued to the Richmond Ambulance Authority. Sutton, who is not an employee of the ambulance authority, is charged with using multiple gas cards owned by the RAA.
Investigators say Sutton filled up his car and the vehicles of others more than 100 times over several months at the beginning of the year. They said Sutton obtained the cards from an authority employee who no longer works there. Apparently the alleged thefts came to light when workers at city gas pumps observed Sutton pumping gas into personal vehicles on numerous occasions. It is reported that Sutton gave some of the ill-gotten fuel away and charged discounted prices to other "customers" to fill up with the cards. His actions were recorded on audio and videotape.
In May, the city auditor's office released a report detailing rampant abuses of city fuel cards. Officials said the investigation leading to Sutton's indictment was generated from that audit.
PowerUp Fleet Analysis: Certainly the City of Richmond, and their taxpayers, has issues as evidenced by their recent exposure in the news. We feel every tax funded entity should use extreme discretion in how they handle employee fuel purchases. There is no room for the mind set that “my employees don’t steal”, nor a lackadaisical view towards management oversight. If anything, the events taking place in Richmond should serve as a lesson for as to why they need a fuel management program like those offered through our affiliates.
Richmond VA - Reports 645 instances reported of workers pumping more gas than their city vehicle holds
REPORTED - May 22, 2007
Richmond VA – The City of Richmond VA recently concluded an internal audit that revealed some startling facts. According to a news article by Michael Martz from the Time-Dispatch, oversight of Richmond's government vehicle fleet is so lax that someone charged almost 45 gallons of gasoline for a car with a 16-gallon tank. That's just one of 645 instances in which someone pumped more gas at public expense than the vehicle could hold.
In addition, the audit also found more than 160 instances during the budget year in which the same vehicle card was used for fueling multiple times in the same day. In one case more than a year ago, the card for a vehicle was used eight times in less than six hours to pump 124 gallons of gasoline.
While the audit does not accuse anyone of a crime, "it makes you wonder if the friends and family plan is in effect," said Richmond City Council President William J. Pantele. "This is a case of extremely loose controls that are prone to fraud and abuse."
The audit concludes that the city loosened control of employee fuel use when it eliminated many city-issued personal fuel cards early last year. In doing so, the administration stopped tracking individual employee fuel use and accounted only for use by vehicle. “As a result, the system can only record which vehicle was fueled at what time," the audit states. "Personal accountability of the user for fueling is lost. This has reduced control over fuel operations."
PowerUp is of the opinion that the selected fuel management program was not properly considered or implemented. It’s essential to identify and report upon the person fueling as well as the vehicle. In addition, a properly controlled system will allow placing limits on fueling activity that takes into consideration both employees and the particular vehicle they may be driving at any given time. Otherwise, you end up with a situation like as is occurring in here in Richmond.
Man fraudulently charges $30,000 - Buys diesel using former employers gas cards!
REPORTED - April 27th, 2007
BRIDGETON, PA - Police have arrested Edmund C. Taylor, 36, on the accusations that he fraudulently used two Major gas cards issued to his former employer, Courier Systems, to purchase about $30,000 worth of diesel fuel in March.
It was stated that Courier Systems had reported to police on April 5 that someone fraudulently used two of the company's Major gas cards to purchase $7,647.54 worth of fuel between March 1 and March 21. It turned out that the $7,600-plus was only the tip of the iceberg. Police now believe Taylor used the cards to make in excess of $30,000 in fuel purchases with the gas cards.
It was reported that Taylor came to a specific service station three to five times a day to fill 55-gallon drums with diesel fuel. Courier Systems initially believed the cards were stolen from two of its trucks when they were burglarized in February. Police believe it's possible Taylor kept the cards and began fraudulently using them after his employment with the company ended or obtained them through some other illegal means.
This is another classic case of poor card stock management. Regardless of how Taylor came into possession of the cards, it’s clear that the company should have exercised better care in knowing where their cards were at all times, and should have locked them out upon any uncertainty.
Two State Workers Arrested For Alleged Gas Theft
REPORTED - April 4th, 2007
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. -- Three people, two of them state workers, are being charged with using a state credit card to steal as much as $20,000 of gasoline.
Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said two suspects worked as aides for the state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities in Dix Hills.
They're identified as 23-year-old Sean Marshall and 22-year-old Omar Hanley. Also arrested was 31-year-old Taiwana Knight, who detectives identified as Marshall's girlfriend. They're all from Wyandanch and they're charged with grand larceny.
The D.A. said the arrests end a nine-month investigation that began when an audit last July found the state credit cards being charged during off-hours when the vehicles were not used. And the PIN numbers on the cards belonged to former employees.
We find theft in tax payer funded organizations to be quite concerning. In this case, the cards did not have the proper controls in place that would have limited the employee’s access, nor was there proper card stock management, as the PIN’s for the former employees were still active.
Former truck driver accused of stealing $100K in diesel
REPORTED - March 30, 2007
McALLEN Texas — Francisco Barajas, 31, a former truck driver for Palmer Steel Supplies Inc., has been arraigned for racking up $104,000 in unauthorized charges on his company’s gas cards between mid March and October of 2006.
The company, a McAllen-based construction steel manufacturer, promoted Barajas from truck driver to dispatcher the same month the alleged fraudulent charges began. His credit card privileges were supposed to end at that time, since he would no longer need the fuel for business purposes, but he didn’t return the credit cards.
According to affidavit, Barajas spent at least $5,000 per card per month during that period, twice spending more than $10,000 on a single card in a month. Company president James Thompson ordered an internal audit in August 2006 that uncovered the fraudulent charges at two gas stations that were not on Barajas’ former delivery route.
Once again poor card stock management and inadequate controls on fueling activities lead to substantial losses for this company. Don’t think it can’t happen to you!
Firefighter uses company card to buy gas for friends.
REPORTED - March 14, 2007
MEDIA, PA - Evan Tolson, 24, a Yeadon firefighter who met friends and relatives at gas stations and let them use a fire company credit card to buy about $14,885 worth of gas, in return for paying him half the price in cash, has plead guilty in a plea deal.
The purchases went on from July 1 to Nov. 20, 2006, and came to light when Exxon Mobil told Yeadon officials a fraud analysis showed an unusual number of transactions on the card, officials said.
A good fleet management program would have limited the purchase capacity so that this could not have occurred. More importantly, the fuel management systems we work with alert fleet managers on a timelier basis, sometimes the very next day.