Waukesha Store Clerk Stops Suspects From Pumping 175 Gallons Gas

WAUKESHA, WI — Police in Waukesha say an astute clerk at a Waukesha Kwik Trip may have prevented the latest gas-buying scam to visit the city.

According to Waukesha police call logs, officers were sent to the Kwik Trip on the 2300 block of E. Moreland Blvd. just after 6 p.m. on April 7 after a store manager called police, reporting two suspicious men trying to pump gas.

Call logs stated that two men came into the store and wanted to pump 175 gallons of gas into a fuel drum tipped sideways in the passenger seat of a maroon Chevrolet Impala with no license plates.

Police said a Kwik Trip employee denied the men the ability to do so after they pumped $15 in gass into their vehicle - and paying for it - before they left.

Waukesha police told Patch the circumstances of the April 7 incident were similar to that of the one last year at the Kwik Trip on Sunset Drive when a van caught on fire.

"Different suspect, but same scam using fraudulent credit cards to purchase large amounts of gas," police said.

Gas Theft Nearly Turned Into Explosion In 2019

In early December 2019, police in Waukesha arrested two people implicated in a gas theft ring after a fire broke out at the Waukesha Kwik Trip where they were trying to steal gas.

At the time, authorities said two suspects, both of Chicago, were lucky they didn't cause a sizable explosion. According to Waukesha police call logs, officers responded to the Kwik Trip gas station at 924 Fleetfoot drive at just after 5 p.m. on Nov. 9 on a report of a fire at one of the gas pumps.

Call logs stated the two suspects were filling up 55-gallon drums of gasoline in the cabin of a conversion van when a fire started at the pump. When authorities arrived, they could see flames showing outside the pump.

Police say the fire was quickly put out, but that one of the two had "significant" burns.

Police say both suspects used fraudulent credit cards to obtain a total of 192 gallons of gas, which had been pumped into several 55-gallon drums that were loaded inside the van. At today's prices, the value of that gas would be about $450.

Police said the two suspects were part of a ring responsible for over 90 documented gas theft cases in southeastern Wisconsin alone.

"They are extremely lucky the gas inside didn't catch fire either as it would have caused a significant and devastating explosion which would have leveled the Kwik Trip Store," Waukesha police said in a statement to Patch.