BREVARD COUNTY, Fla — Investigators Tuesday busted a man accused of using stolen credit cards and filling up a large makeshift gas tank in a van with stolen gas.
- Man accused of using 700 gallon tank to store stolen gas
- Nelson Benitez, 52, charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel
- Benitez also accused of using stolen credit cards
Brevard County Sheriff's agents surrounded the unmarked van in a parking lot near the intersection of Wickham Road and Jordan Blass Boulevard Tuesday morning.
A deputy began unloading items from the back of the van and found several portable gas tanks and sheets of plywood — all very common for a work truck.
"If somebody looked in the windows they would see what they thought was a construction vehicle," says Tod Goodyear of the Brevard Sheriff's Office.
But a closer look inside revealed the real reason for the traffic stop — 700 gallon steel tank used to store stolen gas, otherwise known as a bladder.
"Taking the gas, putting it in the bladder, but what they are doing is using fraudulent credit cards to pay for that gas," Goodyear tells us.
It began early Tuesday morning at a south Brevard gas station when workers reported to police of a suspicious vehicle at the pumps.
An alert was put out to all Brevard law enforcement agencies, and just a couple hours later investigators spotted the van at the Wawa at the intersection of Wickham Road and Pineda Causeway.
Moments later, that led to the traffic stop and the arrest of 52-year-old Nelson Benitez of Orlando.
Investigators say his van was not the one they were looking for.
"This isn't that truck, it's a different truck," Goodyear said. "They have a tendency to travel in groups and come through."
Benetiz is charged with unlawful conveyance of fuel and credit card fraud.
Investigators say stolen gas is sold on the black market for huge profits, and the cost is passed along to credit card companies, and us, the consumer.