New York Inspector General Finds State Gas Pumps Ripe For Theft
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork / AP) - The temptation to steal gas from New York's state-owned fuel pumps has apparently been too great for some workers.
WCBS 880's Rich Lamb On The Case
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New York State Inspector General Ellen Biben's investigation of 12 state agencies found inadequate controls over state-operated gas pumps and inconsistent policies on using state credit cards, showing fuel systems ripe for theft and abuse.
"We found unlocked pumps at unstaffed fueling sites where whoever was using the fuel did not need to identify themselves or use any sort of a card or a key," spokesman John Milgrim told WCBS 880 reporter Rich Lamb.
The IG's investigation also found at manual pumps there was no limit on the amount of fuel that could be dispensed and a number of facilities do not review fuel transactions at all.
The state spent $69 million on fuel last year.
Among theft cases, a 2009 investigation found a highway maintenance supervisor had stolen 42 percent of the fuel dispensed from one pump.
Biben is recommending electronic control systems linking identification numbers with fuel use and other measures to track use.
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