Seven charged with Port Everglades fuel thefts
The president of a trucking company that delivered fuel to Port Everglades has been charged in federal court along with six of his employees for allegedly operating a scheme in which 11,000 gallons of fuel were skimmed off of deliveries.
Federal authorities Wednesday arrested Ricardo Aristides Mejia, president of Miami-based Genesis Petroleum Inc., as well as the six employees, according to reports in the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The Herald report said surveillance between May and August revealed the participants in the alleged operation were stopping at a private lot near the port that was leased by Genesis and transferring fuel to storage tanks inside a shipping container.
Court documents said the fuel was then used to fill up work trucks, personal vehicles and gas containers that belonged to Genesis employees, plus their relatives and friends.
The report said that in August the container was moved to Davie, where the skimming continued.
The case was handled by the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
