TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson announced the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement (OALE) has arrested a suspect on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges related to suspected organized retail fuel theft activities. Juan Carlos Chapelin Marcos was taken into custody and booked into the Nassau County jail on eight felony and misdemeanor charges.
“I am proud of the continued hard work of our Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement to keep our roadways and communities safe by bringing to justice criminals who are brazenly stealing from and defrauding Florida’s businesses,” said Commissioner Wilton Simpson. “We will continue to work collaboratively with our law enforcement and fuel retail partners to combat organized retail fuel theft rings, which are hurting Florida’s businesses and consumers.”
OALE officers observed a pickup truck pulling a white utility trailer bypass an agricultural interdiction station near the Florida-Georgia border in Nassau County. An inspection of the utility trailer revealed two 300-gallon plastic intermediate bulk containers in the trailer, each half full of a dark colored liquid, which the driver admitted was diesel fuel. The containers were not permanently fixed to the trailer and had no hazmat placards or any other type of identifying markings. Upon further inspection of the trailer, a dispensing pump and tubing was connected to the bulk containers and threaded through a hole in the nose of the trailer and connected to the undercarriage of the pickup truck it was hitched to. The possession of multiple fuel tanks, pumps and tubing of this kind is consistent with fuel theft and transportation of stolen fuel.
As a result of this arrest, Macros currently faces eight felony and misdemeanor charges, including one count of unlawful conveyance of fuel, a third-degree felony; one count of unlawful transportation of motor vehicle fuel over public highways, a first-degree misdemeanor; one count of failure to stop at an agricultural inspection station, a second-degree misdemeanor; one count of driving without a valid commercial driver license, a first-degree misdemeanor; one count of possession of cocaine, a third-degree felony; and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, a first-degree misdemeanor.
To help combat rampant retail fuel theft across Florida, Commissioner Simpson worked with the Florida Legislature this year to create criminal penalties for the possession, installation, use, or aiding in the use of contaminant devices – such as fuel dispenser pulsars – inserted into retail fuel dispensers from its standard operation or impeding standard functionality. In addition, Florida law was changed to create criminal penalties for possessing or using an auxiliary fuel tank to commit retail fuel theft. These new changes went into effect July 1, 2023.
The Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement conducts criminal investigations relating to any matter over which the department has jurisdiction, protects consumers from unfair and deceptive trade practices, protects Florida’s agriculture industry from theft and other crimes, and safeguards the integrity of Florida’s food and other consumer products. In support of its mission, the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement operates more than 20 agricultural interdiction stations around the state. Officers conduct vehicle inspections 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to protect Florida’s food supply and prevent the introduction and spread of agricultural pests and diseases.
