Police: Man stole 513 gallons of diesel fuel from Southwest Philly Wawa

Philadelphia Police Department. Keith Jones, 55.

A 55-year-old Kingsessing man has been arrested and charged with allegedly stealing 513 gallons of diesel fuel from a Wawa gas station in Southwest Philadelphia.

Police said employees at a Wawa on the 8200 block of Bartram Avenue discovered that the store’s diesel fuel ground pump station was damaged around 11:30 a.m. Monday afternoon. Further investigation revealed that 513 gallons of diesel fuel were missing from the tank.

Police said the station’s surveillance footage showed a Stroehmann box truck entering the Wawa parking lot and backing up to the diesel fuel ground pump on the lot’s southwest corner. The truck sat there for more than 40 minutes and left the lot “extremely weighed down in the rear,” according to investigators.

Authorities were able to identify the operator of the truck as 55-year-old Keith Jones of the 5500 block of Belmar Terrace in Kingsessing. He was arrested at his home on Monday.

Jones was arraigned shortly before 9:30 a.m. yesterday and is charged with theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief and possessing an instrument of crime. He was released on his own recognizance and is next due in court on March 12 for a preliminary hearing.