Orange County Wawa hit by alleged gas skimmer
Oscar Martinez Campanioni was arrested and charged with grand theft of fuel and fraud using a scan/skim device. (Photo: Orange County Corrections)
APOPKA, Fla. - A man was arrested this week after he was caught allegedly installing and using a skimming device at an Orange County gas station to pump over $880 worth of gas without paying, according to the Apopka Police Department.
Oscar Martinez Campanioni, 37, was arrested and charged with grand theft of fuel and fraud using a scan/skim device after the incident that unfolded at Wawa on South Orange Blossom Trail on Monday afternoon.
Officers responded to Wawa shortly before 4:20 p.m. in response to a theft in progress reported by the gas station's manager, who said a man was filling up a red semi-truck at pump #11 without paying, according to an arrest affidavit.
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An officer spoke to the man at the pump, identified as Campanioni, while another officer spoke with the Wawa manager.
The manager said she had received a call minutes prior from Wawa's loss prevention department who said he "was getting scamming alerts from pumps #11 and #12" and asked to check the register to see if someone was getting gas at those pumps. The register, however, said that no one was filling up at the aforementioned pumps, according to the arrest affidavit.
A Wawa gas station in Fairfax, Virginia, US, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. Wawa is aiming to open as many as 280 new stores over the next decade. (Photographer: Moriah Ratner/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
That's when the manager called the police and reported the theft in progress. She also went outside to take a look at the pumps, and a green skimming device fell out of the pump when she opened it, police said.
About 229 gallons of fuel worth nearly $882 were pumped, the manager told police.
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When an officer spoke with Campanioni in a post-Miranda interview, he said another man pulled up to the gas station. What the man did at this time was redacted from the police report, but the man then left the gas station. Campanioni at first denied knowing the man, but then said he knew him but wasn't friends with him, the report said.
Police said they reviewed surveillance footage which showed Campanioni shaking hands with the other man and kissing him on the cheek. The video also showed both men walking over to pump #11 and "briefly possibly installing the device inside the pump," the affidavit said, adding that a semi-truck was blocking the camera view as they were allegedly installing the device.
"Campanioni was asked about the green skim device that was located inside the gas pump and he said that he had no clue that it was inside there," the affidavit added.
Campanioni was placed under arrest and transported to the Orange County Jail. He has since been released.