Gas station owner hit by alleged fuel theft scheme in New Mexico

Business speaks out on fuel thieves targeting New Mexico

An alleged scheme to steal fuel from gas stations in New Mexico has hit one independently-owned station whose owners are speaking out about it.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The owners of M & T’s Mini Market in northwest Albuquerque say they’re still trying to recoup the thousands of dollars they lost to fuel theft.

They also want to warn others.

Teresa Thompson and her daughter have run M & T’s for about two years. It was smooth sailing until last summer when Thompson said something wasn’t adding up when she looked over the books — fuel was gone but there was no money to show for the sale.

After searching through months of security video, they found rigged box trucks that can hold hundreds of gallons of fuel. The drivers bypassed the gas pumps to clean out entire inventories of fuel in just hours.

Thompson said she saw them on video time and time again for several weeks.

That led to lost revenue and big changes to their business plan.

“Because of the damage to the pumps, we were forced to get $150,000 loan. And it makes you feel violated, it really does but angry at the same time, because we work for our money. You should work for yours,” Thompson said. “Right away, immediately, I was done. No more pumps on at night. We just shut the whole system down at night.”

Thompson said they decided to come forward now after seeing a similar story KOB 4 reported on last week in Rio Communities. Rio Communities police say they saw the same type of trucks stealing just as much fuel. The police chief said they’ve linked this crime to cartel activity. The chief also learned the Texas Department of Safety has been dealing with this crime for years now.

Thompson said she filed a police report with the Albuquerque Police Department and are waiting to hear about any updates. In the Rio Communities case, police haven’t made any arrests. However, a similar case in Santa Fe led to two arrests.