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Tampa Police Arrest 3 In Gas Theft, Resale Scheme

News Channel 8 photo by JIM FARQUHAR

Police say the gas was stolen from this Hess Express on N. Florida Avenue in Tampa.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 14, 2008

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  Kelson Clement

  Evans Louis

  Emmanuel Delly

TAMPA - Three men face criminal charges in a scheme to sell discounted gas to motorists on the sly and pocket the proceeds, Tampa police said today.

Police say Kelson Clement, Evans Louis and Emmanuel Delly overrode the gas pumps at several Hess stations so they could pump gas without paying, police said.

They then arranged to meet with customers to fill up their tanks at a discounted rate: $20 for cars and $40 for trucks and sport-utility vehicles, police said.

Investigators estimate the men pumped nearly 2,000 gallons of gas valued at more than $6,500. Police are investigating whether the men used the scheme at other stations.

Clement, Louis and Delly each are charged with felony organized fraud as a violation of the Florida Communications Fraud Act.

Police said a tip led them to set up a meeting between undercover officers and Clement at the Hess Express at 10001 N. Florida Ave. about 10:30 p.m. Monday.

According to an affidavit, Clement pumped 16 gallons of premium gasoline for the undercover officer in exchange for $40, but the gas was worth $62.

Clement, 25, of Tampa and Delly, 30, of Immokalee, were released from the Orient Road Jail today after posting $2,000 bail each. Louis, 26, of no known address, was held without bail on a warrant on an unrelated charge, jail records show.

Devising security enhancements to keep people from overriding the pumps is "an industrywide problem," said Lorrie Hecker, a Woodbridge, N.J., spokeswoman for the Hess Corp.

Hess works with the gas-pump manufacturers to add security enhancements, but "thieves have figured out a variety of ways to override the system," she said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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