DEL CITY, Okla. --An Oklahoma regulator has temporarily banned a gas station and convenience store operator from selling gasoline while it investigates charges that it has been defrauding customers.
SK Gas Express, a Del City, Okla., c-store owned and operated by Samir Khan of Ardol LLC, has been forbidden to sell gas since a lockdown order went into effect Sept. 29. That's when regulators with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission filed a contempt complaint, according to a report in The Oklahoman. The retailer was charged with 10 counts of violating state statutes concerning discrepancies between the price it posted for gasoline and the amount it charged customers.
The charges date back to May 2013, after regulators found that three of SK Gas Express' fuel dispensers had mismatched price and gallon readouts, said the report. The commission's fuel inspector ordered the pumps placed out of service twice the following month, and then a third time that December because of price/gallon discrepancies.
Then this March, a customer reported another price discrepancy, with the gallon price off by 50 cents for every five gallons he pumped, according to a complaint. An employee at SK Gas Express subsequently shut down the dispenser.
Later that month, commission inspectors found that the fuel price had been blacked out on all of the pumps with a marker.
After another customer made a gas purchase, the credit-card receipt revealed a charge of $3.89 per gallon, 70 cents per gallon higher than indicated by the receipt from the dispenser pump. A second customer reported a similar mismatch of the pump and charged price after he bought gas at the site in two separate incidents in August and September.
The commission also cited SK Gas Express in April and May for selling gasoline containing ethanol from pumps that did not have ethanol labels, the report said. In addition, two separate inspections found that the price the store was charging for gas differed from what was posted on the price sign.
The retailer has agreed to post signs alerting customers of the charges while the commission is investigating, the report said. The signs say in part, "This facility has been under investigation and is currently involved in litigation concerning allegations of defrauding fuel customers."
Commissioners will decide this week whether to allow SK Gas to resume selling gas while they decide the case, said the report. Agency staff recommended a fine of $10,000 per violation, which the elected commissioners are considering.
An attorney for SK Gas Express declined the newspaper's request for comment.
Click here to view the full Oklahoman report.
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