CHARLESTON, West Virginia, Jan. 22, 2008 (NBC) -- West Virginia police say a gas station clerk was giving her friends gas at a tenth of a cent per gallon, adding up to tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Multimedia Watch The Video It happened at the Spring Hill BP station in South Charleston. Detectives say the owner of the gas station contacted them last week because his accounts were not adding up. He found that records were tampered with and noticed a trend of $.001 per gallon sales on Sunday mornings.
Police set up a sting and caught the clerk's friends lined up even before the station opened at 7am with dozens of gas cans in hand.
Officers arrested the clerk, Madeline Jordan, 25 of Nitro; her mother, Mary Jordan, 58 of Charleston; her brother, John Jordan, 27 of Charleston; her cousin, Vonnie Oldham, 38 of Leon; Clifford Parker, 47 of Leon; and Glennis Fields, 39 of Dunbar.
All six are charged with fraudulent schemes and have been taken to the South Central Regional Jail.
The pumps were still set at $.001 when crews arrived on scene.
Detectives say they believe the scam has been going on for months. They believe Madeline Jordan chose to do it early on Sunday mornings to avoid a high traffic time. They say she has been working this same shift for about six months.
Police towed five vehicles from the scene and confiscated all of the gas containers.
The owner told police this scam almost put him into bankruptcy. He said he can account for at least $40,000 lost so far. He added that he's relieved that the mystery of the missing money has been solved.
