They Pumped 455 Gallons Of Diesel Fuel In Channahon, Now Their Ford F-250 Trucks Face Police Forfeiture

CHANNAHON, IL — Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow and his team of lawyers are trying to seize a pair of 2020 Ford F-250 pickup trucks that patronized the Channahon Speedway gas station near Interstate 55 and Route 6 in December. According to the latest civil forfeiture filing at the Will County Courthouse, the case involves Abraham and Alex Castellano, and the Chicago relatives are accused of attempted retail theft.

On Dec. 19, Channahon police officer Liebermann pulled over the two Ford F-250 trucks after watching the trucks fueling at the Speedway gas station and "each driver lifted the bed cover windows of the trucks to dispense fuel into concealed tanks inside the truck beds," court documents revealed.

According to Speedway's video surveillance footage, at 1:17 p.m. Abraham Castellano pulled up to the northern most diesel pump followed by a second truck, driven by Alex Castellano, at the same pump. Fuel purchase receipts showed three transactions using the same credit card for approximately $1,500 in fuel, equating to 455 gallons.

"This is inconsistent with the fuel tank capacity of the Ford F-250 trucks which ranges between 29 and 48 gallons," the forfeiture noted.

The court files indicate that Abraham Castellano was interviewed back at the Channahon police station and asked how $1,500 worth of diesel fuel was pumped without his having a matching credit card number in his possession. He responded that his credit card did not work and the fuel card he used belonged in the truck, prosecutors indicated.

"He was unsure of the exact location where he picked up the truck and stated he did not know who owned the truck he was driving. He did not deny wrongdoing nor provide an explanation regarding payment for the fuel," court documents show.

The forfeiture indicated that Channahon police found gift cards and gaming cards with magnetic strips inside both of the Castellanos' trucks and one of the gaming cards had a 16-digit number consistent with a compromised credit card/debit card which was recoded to the gaming card.

"In the instance of this gaming card, the number on the card was ... used to purchase the above fuel. Officers also observed Abraham Castellano's mobile phone to have text message chains where multiple 16-digit credit/debit card numbers were seen and a thumbs up or thumbs down was listed next to different numbers," court records reflect. "Officers believed this to be a set of compromised credit or debit card numbers and whether they worked or did not work. While in the possession of this phone, officers saw additional text messages with numerous credit/debit card numbers coming into this phone."

The forfeiture filing indicates that both of the 2020 Ford F-250 trucks are being seized because they "were used in the commission of attempted retail theft in that the vehicles were used to transport Abraham Castellano and Alex Castellano to and from the location where the substantial step toward the completion of the theft took place as well as to transport the stolen fuel.

Abraham Castellano lives on South Marquette Avenue in Chicago while Alex Castellano lives on Burley Avenue in Chicago.

Their forfeiture hearing is set for March 11 at the Will County Courthouse.

As for the Castellanos, who are both 21 years old, no criminal charges were filed against either of them in connection with the Speedway fuel incident. However, each of them was given a ticket from the Channahon police for unlawful possession of marijuana by a driver.