A 24-year-old man is accused of rigging a gas pump with a magnetic device so he could fill a homemade tank welded into his truck bed with diesel while the display read just $20, according to a police report. Rodolfo Molina Conde is accused of stealing 122 gallons of diesel worth more than $700 from a Pembroke Pines gas station, and investigators say it was not the first time.
Police say Molina Conde used the magnetic device to trick the fuel pump into dispensing fuel beyond its set threshold at the station located at Pines Boulevard and 64th Avenue, according to a police report cited by CBS Miami. A separate report cited by Cuba en el Mundo puts the total at 122 gallons of diesel worth $705.16, and describes police suspecting the device interfered with the pump's payment system while fuel kept flowing.
The tank police found in the truck bed appeared to be welded together with rusted steel plates, according to the arrest report. Cuba en el Mundo reports the auxiliary tank had capacity for nearly 200 gallons and was connected to a separate fuel line, a detail that points to a setup built for repeated use rather than a one-time theft.
A Second Alleged Theft Weeks Earlier
Molina Conde is also accused of stealing about $950 worth of fuel the previous month. The same outlet's report links him to an alleged October 14 theft of roughly 153 gallons worth $948.60 at another 7-Eleven, and notes the two alleged thefts together total 275 gallons taken from the two locations.
When someone tried to record him during the incident, Molina Conde said, “Don't shoot video of my face.” CBS Miami reported that Molina Conde has since bonded out of jail.
Fire Chief Flags Explosion Danger
Steve Gollan warned that transporting fuel in an unapproved container is dangerous, and said a vehicle accident could cause the fuel to explode. He added that the danger of moving fuel in non-standard containers affects people around the vehicle as well as those inside it. CBS Miami's video report similarly notes that a fire chief warned of the explosion risk posed by the rigged tank.
How the Scheme Allegedly Worked
Florida law defines theft broadly: a person commits theft if they knowingly obtain or use, or try to obtain or use, another person's property with intent to deprive that person of it or appropriate it for themselves or another, according to Florida Statutes, § 812.014. The statute identifies property valued at $750 or more but less than $5,000 as third-degree grand theft, a third-degree felony.
Magnet-based pump tampering has turned up elsewhere in the state. In Northwest Florida, investigators described an organized diesel-fuel theft scheme spanning multiple counties, with several arrests, according to WEAR-TV. In a Santa Rosa County case tied to that investigation, four people allegedly used strong magnets to manipulate fuel-pump components and let fuel flow without payment, and surveillance footage reportedly showed people filling multiple semi trucks with diesel. An agricultural law enforcement captain told the station that in such cases, people are either selling the fuel on the black market or using it in connection with a legitimate trucking business.
