MACOMB, Mich. -- Mark Griffin is all for turning the screws on gas station owners and operators who tamper with their pumps to increase profit. So the president of the Michigan Petroleum Association (MPA) delighted in Tuesday's sentencing of a Clinton Township man and the corporation behind his station for pleading guilty to such manipulation in 2004 and 2005.
Judge Richard Caretti of the Macomb Circuit Court sentenced Nabil Dawood and the Kammie Brothers Corp. to pay up to $40,000 to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office restitution fund as well as [image-nocss] repay nearly $22,000 to the state Department of Agriculture for its investigative expenses. In addition, the prosecutor's office will choose area stations and for several days require them to sell gasoline at 50 cents or $1 below retail, according to the Macomb Daily News.
Among those providing discounted gasoline will be one or two stations located near where the illegal sales occurred.
Dawood will not be incarceratedhe will be on probation for 18 monthsbut what Griffin is most excited about is that Caretti ordered that Dawood can never again work in the gasoline business.
Griffin, who said the offenders were not members of the MPA, has been working with the Michigan Department of Agriculture Weights & Measures Division and State Representative Fran Amos (R) to strengthen the penalties for illegal pump alterations. Presently, Griffin said, there is a series of fines related to the amount of illegal profit.
It has been our position that people who engage in illegal activities that would put some sort of device that would alter the pumps purposely to intentionally short the consumer, that they should not be allowed to be in our industry, Griffin told CSP Daily News. If that was the case here, we would applaud that. That's a very relevant sentence; it stops them from ever doing it again.
Dawood and Kammie Brothers shortchanged consumers from July 2004 to June 2005 at a location since closed, according to the newspaper report. A suspicious motorist tipped off authorities by calling the toll-free consumer protection number on Michigan pumps. Griffin was also glad that the phone numbermeant for reports on pump calibration or fuel qualitywas used appropriately.
Unfortunately, it gets abused by consumers whenever the price of gasoline spikes for conditions that are beyond the retailers' control, for instance, after [Hurricane Katrina], said Griffin. There's a large influx of telephone calls as consumers were angry at the price of gasoline, so they tried to get back at the retailer by flooding the state with phone calls. While we're all strong believers in some sort of whistle-blower program, we believe at times this program is abused because people feel that's the only way they can get back at the oil industry. Sadly, the retailer is as much a victim of the high gas prices as the consumer.
In related news, legislation that would allow South Carolina to more easily prosecute price-gougers after disasters cleared a house subcommittee in Columbia Tuesday, according to a report in the Associated Press. The proposed law would let the state attorney general pursue offenders after a presidential declaration of disaster concerning an area where the disaster affects prices in South Carolina. Now, the AG can only go after those who gouge after the South Carolina governor declares a state of emergency. That language hampered the efforts last fall of South Carolina AG Henry McMaster, who tried to prosecute operators who raised their per-gallon prices to $5, according to the report. The bill now moves to the full House Labor, Commerce & Industry Committee.
And in Pennsylvania, State Rep. John Payne (R) has authored an amendment to a bill in the state House that would prohibit retail station owners and operators from raising the price of motor fuel more than once in a 24-hour period, said the Pennsylvania Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association (PPMCSA) in a special bulletin. Frequent price increases became an issue in the aftermath of Katrina, the group said. PPMCSA will work to oppose this amendment, it said, promising grassroots action.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.