Copyright 2000 The Omaha World-Herald Company
Omaha
World-Herald
June 15, 2000, Thursday SUNRISE EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1;
LENGTH: 903 words
HEADLINE:
Thieves Make Stations Pay at Pump, Too
BYLINE: TOM SHAW
SOURCE: WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
BODY:
Texaco station owner Mike Dudzinski sifts
through receipts from gas thefts, frustration rising in his
voice. "$ 25 ... $ 26.73 ... $ 18.31 ...$ 25.96 ... $ 49.73," he says, listing
the money lost when people have left his Omaha station without paying, crimes
called drive-offs. Soaring gas prices are leading to more and
more drive-offs as people refuse to dip deeper into their pockets. "It's like
it's their inalienable right to steal gas because the price is
so high," Dudzinski said, "I can't afford a $ 25 drive-off." In Omaha, station
owners say they're seeing all types of people grabbing the gas and taking off,
even one guy driving a Lexus. In Des Moines, police reported Tuesday that 62
motorists drove away from self-serve gas stations without paying in the past 13
days. Davenport, Iowa, police also are noticing more thefts. (4) "On a weekend
we have been averaging about five a day," Lt. Jay Verhorevoort said. "It was up
to about 15 a day this past weekend." (4) Council Bluffs Police Lt. Carol Cates
said stations there are reporting one or two thefts a day, which is about
normal. Dudzinski owns a Texaco station at 60th and Grover Streets and a station
at 148th Street and West Center Road. The Grover station, just north of
Interstate 80, sees larger volumes of traffic, which worsens the problem of
drive-offs, he said. Police are not responding quickly enough or are not
responding at all to reports made by area stations, Dudzinski said. In some
instances it has taken police days to respond. "I know it's just not me," he
said, adding that he sees at least one drive-off a day. To curb the problem at
his station, he and his employees have taken matters into their own hands. On
Tuesday Dudzinski followed one drive-off all the way to his house. Dudzinski
demanded money, but the driver said he didn't have any on him. As collateral,
Dudzinski got the title to the man's car. The station owner called police, but
nothing has happened yet, he said. (7) At Rodney Rogers' Texaco, 1307 S. Saddle
Creek Road, where regular unleaded was selling Wednesday for $ 1.75, "we've gone
as far as getting into a car and following them," Rogers said. "We don't take
drive-offs lightly." Dudzinski said drive-offs should be investigated like any
other theft, such as shoplifting. An employee at the Holiday Station at 5444
Center St., where the price was $ 1.75 Wednesday, said she has noticed an
increase in drive-offs over the past few weeks. She said the station now
averages one drive-off a day. However, no one from the station has followed a
customer who failed to pay. Sgt. Dan Cisar of the Omaha Police Department said
drive-offs are not singled out in records. He said reported drive-offs from
self-service stations are categorized as shoplifting in police statistics. If a
driver fails to pay after an attendant pumps the gas, it's classified as fraud.
Cisar said he isn't aware of a large-scale problem in the city. "It's something
that's always happened," he said. "I can't tell you there's been a huge jump in
it. To be honest, a lot of gas drive-offs happen at night during our peak
hours." The Nebraska State Patrol offices in Grand Island and North Platte
report no increases in drive-offs. In Bellevue, drive-offs haven't increased,
said Deputy Chief John Stacey with the Bellevue Police Department. Police say
it's up to stations to safeguard against drive-offs. "We've kind of put the
burden back on the stations," he said. "It's a low-priority situation, and we
don't take a report on it." Sometimes a call is put out to patrol cars after a
drive-off, Stacey said. But even if the driver is found, station owners usually
don't press charges as long as the driver pays for the gas. "We're just
bill-collecting," Stacey said. (1) Police urge stations to ask customers to
pre-pay for gas. Dudzinski said making customers pay before pumping would anger
drivers and hurt his stations. Farther away from the Interstate, Rogers' station
hasn't seen an increase in drive-offs, but employees are being more alert. "We
haven't had any big problems because we have gotten substantially more
cautious," Rogers said, explaining that cars without license plates are not
served. "Generally we're pretty lax on that ... but right now we're adhering to
that policy." (1) However, taking down license plate numbers is difficult
because some pumps are hard to see from inside the store, said Randy Standley,
manager of the Amoco Foodshop at 2605 S. 160th St. Recently a man in a Lexus
left the Amoco without paying for $ 32 in gas. "The guy was in a suit and
everything," Standley said. (1) The station hasn't seen more people failing to
pay, she said. But as a precaution, attendants must activate pumps before
customers can fill up. Standley's station averages three to four drive-offs a
month, totaling about $ 100 in unpaid bills. The price Wednesday for regular
unleaded at that Amoco was $ 1.83 per gallon. Dudzinski said some people think
that stations profit by higher prices. But he said it's bad for business to
raise retail prices in proportion to wholesale costs. He said the wholesale cost
for regular unleaded went up 20 cents in one week. That can't be fully
transferred to retail prices because people already are suffering from sticker
shock, he said. Dudzinski's station was selling regular unleaded for $ 1.73 per
gallon Wednesday afternoon.
GRAPHIC: Color Photo/1 GAS
THEFT: Andre Tabor show receipts from customers who have driven off without
paying fro gas pumped at his Texaco station at 60th and Grover Streets. He said
the problem is growing with higher gas prices. His partner, Mike Dudzinski, even
followed one customer to his home.; Phil Johnson/World-Herlad/1sf
LOAD-DATE: June 15, 2000 
