Pumps stolen from 3 out-of-business NY gas stations

ISLIP TERRACE, N.Y. - Police are trying to determine who stole seven gas pumps from several shuttered service stations on Long Island, reports CBS New York.

According to CBS New York, thieves stole five pumps from one gas station in Westbury, one from a station in Islip Terrace, and another from a station in Hauppauge.

"You have to kind of know this business to be able to take these dispensers off the island," Dan Reilly of Island Pump and Tank told the station. "So whoever is doing it is definitely in the business and knows what they are doing."

Police say all of the locations that were targeted were closed and out of business at the time of the thefts.

Investigators believe sometime over the last several days, thieves struck in the middle of the night - using heavy equipment to remove the pumps - and even the remaining gas below ground from the Westbury business.

"It's definitely dangerous to rip these off the island," Reilly said. "You leave everything exposed, so it's not a good scene."

The wholesale gasoline distributor that supplied the gas stations told CBS New York all of the targeted stations are owned by a Long Island man who filed for bankruptcy last month. In the past few years, customers said they stopped using his stations because the owner would charge $1 to $2 more for credit card purchases than for cash.

"He was price-gouging us," Peter Nilson of Islip Terrace told the station.

Nilson was among the dozens of customers who filed complaints over the higher credit card prices.

"I think that him charging a dollar extra price-per-gallon for using a credit card was absurd and they didn't want to hear about it when you went into the store to explain to them that it was just uncalled for," Nilson said.

CBS New York reports attempts to reach the owner of the gas stations were unsuccessful.