Diesel Theft Ring Hits Kimball

Kimball has been added to the list of areas that have suffered thefts of thousands of gallons of fuel at fuel stations. Other communities hit by the theft rings include Chappell, Benkelman, Haigler, Sidney and Dalton.

Video shows that on Jan. 26, a white straight box truck with two subjects pulled up to a fuel station at Frenchman Valley Coop in Kimball and absconded with over 1,000 gallons of fuel.

With the theft occurring in the city of Kimball, the Kimball Police Department is investigating. Chief Jose Ruiz said the vehicle has a "very distinguished look" with a hole in the side. With the help of social media they are wanting to get the word out and attempt to get a better picture of the suspects. He said the dollar amount in Kimball was over $7,000.

Frenchman Valley Coop CEO John Bender explained at length to the Observer about the effects and methods used during the recent diesel thefts that five different Frenchman Valley Coop stations have experienced in the last 12 months.

Bender is asking for public awareness to help stop the thefts. He said that the public should watch for a vehicle sitting at isolated pumps for an extended amount of time, especially from midnight to sunrise, and to call law enforcement with the information. They appear to hit areas that have a low law enforcement present.

The local area where the main office of Frenchman Valley Coop is located has at least two theft groups operating in the area. One group uses pickup with tanks in the bed of the pickup and appears to be local group while the other is thought to be a ring from Mexico suing multiple vehicles including box trucks and pickups.

The Dundy County sheriff has been investigating the fuel thefts from an incident in early January. Then on Jan. 25, according to a media release from the Dundy County Sheriff's Office, a deputy "observed a white box truck matching the description in several other diesel fuel thefts and initiated a stop of the vehicle on Highway 34 just west of Haigler, Nebraska."

The release continues, "The Dundy County Sheriff's Office then continued this investigation and looking at the outside of the box truck, we observed items which were consistent with the area diesel fuel theft. Two females and a male were then arrested for theft of approximately 3,900 gallon of diesel fuel from St. Francis Equity fuel station in Haigler, Nebraska."

Bender said these groups "know what they are doing" and they have hit a large geographical area, including Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.

The large diesel thefts take anywhere from 2-4 hours to pump diesel into chemical totes inside the box truck through a hole in the side of the truck. A individual on the inside of the box truck pumps the diesel into the 275-gallon chemical totes, stealing thousands of gallons of diesel fuel.

From Bender's understanding, the group either uses an app on their phone to obtain access to the maintenance mode on the pumps or uses a wireless remote method to gain access to the maintenance mode thereby bypassing the need for payment. It appears they are targeting pumps with an older control system.

Another ring with Utah connections is stealing fuel using stolen credit cards obtain by using a skimmer.

CEO Bender said the large losses are expensive for retailers and an upgrade for the control system on the pumps is very expensive also.

Bender explained that the thefts are usually discovered the next day when they measure the tanks. The Nebraska fire marshall requires a daily monitoring and measuring of the fuel tanks. When the loss is discovered they go back and look at the camera footage to discover the vehicles involved.