EUSTIS — Police have arrested an Orlando man and charged him with stealing more than $1,800 worth of diesel from a fuel pump at a gas station.

According to the arrest affidavit, the man was using an electronic device that thieves are using across the nation — a pulsar manipulation device. They manipulate the counter in the pump, making it move very slowly while fuel is being pumped at a normal rate.

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Police were called to the Circle K in the 19000 block State Road 44 on April 8 by the store manager.

The manager said she noticed a white Ford pickup taking a long time to fuel up at one of the pumps. The driver of the white pump finished and drove off, then a black pickup truck pulled up to the same pump.

She thought it was suspicious, because there have been fuel thefts in the area. So she went outside to see if a “tamper tape” was still on the pump. The state started sealing pumps to show they were safe from credit card skimmers to lift people’s account numbers.

She said the man using the pump was wearing a face covering, hat and sunglasses. The pump was operating very slowly, which is unusual.

She said she was going to put a bag over the nozzle because the pump was not operating correctly. The man asked if all the pumps were operating slowly, and she said no. He said he would try another pump, got into the truck, but drove off instead of trying another pump.

After the black truck left, the manager went to see if the tamper tape had been removed. Then she noticed that someone had placed some type of mechanism inside the pump. It was a pulsar manipulation device.

Fuel pumps are already outfitted with pulsar devices, which measure the amount of fuel being pumped. But thieves can install a manipulation device, blocking it from accurately measuring how much fuel is being dispensed. 

The manager looked over her fuel logs and realized that 393 gallons of diesel fuel was unaccounted for, valued at $1,854.93.

Police removed the mechanism, took it into evidence and learned that thieves are using the devices across the state and country. 

Newsweek reported on April 8 that thieves had stolen more than $140,000 worth of fuel from gas stations around the U.S.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police made arrests in connection in the theft of 300 gallons worth more than $1,000, according to the news organization.

Crooks in Colorado stole 5,000 gallons valued at $50,000. The news organization said thieves in Florida that week used a "homemade device" to steal $60,000 worth of gasoline from two gas stations.

In another case in Florida, four men were arrested and charged with stealing more than 2,800 gallons, Newsweek reported. 

Eustis Police Detective William Starling went back to the store three days later to examine video surveillance footage.

What he observed was a silver Ford 350 pull up to the pump, then the white pickup.

“It appears one of the subjects opens the door to the pump, but I cannot determine what they are doing. While the silver truck is parked at the pump, the subjects open the hood of the truck and appear to act like they are working on it,” according to an arrest affidavit.

They used a debit card for a total of $5.05 and $1.08, and another debit card to buy an energy drink.

Soon, another vehicle shows up, and two more people open the pump. Other vehicles soon follow.

Starling pulled screenshots of the people from the video, noted license plate numbers, and contacted the Florida Department of Agriculture and law enforcement agencies. He also posted pictures on Facebook.

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said they had a similar case involving a 2004 white pickup truck and had a suspect.

Starling checked the name in traffic arrests, found known associates, and located his suspect on a Facebook page.

The man, who also has a 2013 conviction for grand theft, lives in Orlando. Detectives drove to Orlando and found trucks matching the description in the driveway.

Detectives also noticed a damaged rim on the front of one of the trucks, which shows up in the surveillance video.

“(The man) pumped fuel into his truck and an extended storage tank during … about an hour, while using the pulsar device. It should be noted that a regular F-350 only has a tank size of about 38 gallons,” the arrest report said.

The man was arrested and has been charged with unauthorized access to electronic equipment, obtaining fuel by fraud, unlawful conveyance of fuel, criminal mischief (impairment to a business) and grand theft.