Gas Tampering Investigation in Kingsland Continues

By Lindy Thackston First Coast News

KINGSLAND, GA -- Inspectors with the Georgia Department of Agriculture have locked all fuel pumps at two Kingsland truck stops.

The truck stops involved are Cisco Travel Plaza #1 at Exit 1 and Cisco Travel Plaza #2 at Exit 6 on Interstate 95.

"The pumps have been locked because they were shorting customers by not delivering enough gasoline," said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.

Irvin says inspectors from the Georgia Department of Agriculture came up more than a quart short when pumping five gallons of gas, and that's worth about fourteen cents per gallon.

Truck driver Rhett Flournoy is a customer of the one the Cisco Travel Plaza's and he can't believe the news.

"You don't have any way of knowing," said Flournoy. "When you're pumping hundreds of gallons into a truck, that's a big rip-off and it's hard to make a living as it is."

Irvin says a confidential informant led his inspectors to the gas stations.

"My understanding is the informer saw them manipulating the pumps and reported that to my staff," Irvin told First Coast News by phone from Atlanta.

He says they found a shortage at every single pump.

"Looks very suspicious to me," Irvin said. "Substantial shortage, too. Every pump. That means somebody's manipulating them."

"The cases where we've found substantial shortage on all nozzles leads us to believe it's a good possibility it might prove to be deliberate. If it's deliberate, we're going to bring criminal charges."

Those charges may lead to prosecution, plus fines that Irvin says could hit $1,000 for every gas customer cheated at the pumps.

Irvin says the Department of Agriculture is having a hard time tracking down all the owners because of several recent ownership changes.

He says it will be very difficult to determine how long this may have been going on, or how many customers were affected.

Inspections are required twice a year.

The Department of Agriculture says the Cisco Travel Plaza's were inspected.

First Coast News has requested those inspection reports.

Inspectors were out again at the Cisco Travel Plaza at Exit 6 Wednesday. They also did some work at a gas station across the street, but the Department of Agriculture will not comment on what the inspectors were doing.

Irvin says this is one of the worst cases of shorting gas customers he's seen in nearly 40 years on the job.

Staff members at the Georgia Department of Agriculture have contacted their counterparts in Florida so the Sunshine State can keep a close eye on stations south of the border.

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