The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement announced Friday it had made another arrests in a string of fuel thefts from a gas station south of Kissimmee.
Gonzalo Almanza, 29, was arrested Thursday and booked into Osceola County Corrections, but jail records show he bonded out by Friday afternoon. He's been charged with 13 felony charges, including rackateering, obtaining fuel by fraud and offenses against a computer system.
The investigation centered around a RaceTrac station at Orange Blossom Trail and Ham Brown Road. Harold Blanco, 28, of Orlando, who remains in the Osceola County Jail on $53,500 bond, was arrested last month on about 30 charges. According to an arrest report, on May 12 just before noon, Blanco was discovered at the RaceTrac station going in and out of a white Ford truck with an unregistered tag, and breaking into a gas pump through the receipt door. He placed a “fuel pulser" device to deceive the pump and steal diesel fuel at little to no cost. He was caught after a chase down Ham Brown and on foot through a nearby cow pasture. Blanco had been a suspect in similar incidents earlier in the year in Kissimmee and Daytona Beach.
Following the arrest of Blanco, investigators were able to identify Almanza as a co-conspirator who worked with Blanco to commit several of the felony fuel thefts, and was taken into custody Thursday.
"I am proud of the hard work of our Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement to bring to justice criminals who are brazenly defrauding and stealing from Florida’s businesses – something we will not tolerate or turn a blind eye to in Florida,” said Commissioner Wilton Simpson. “This arrest marks another significant milestone in our ongoing effort to combat fuel theft and protect Florida's consumers and businesses. We will continue to work collaboratively with our law enforcement partners and fuel retailers to combat these organized criminal activities."
Florida law was changed to create criminal penalties for possessing or using an auxiliary fuel tank to commit retail fuel theft. The changes went into effect July 1.
