Oct. 29--EL PASO -- Call it liquid justice -- sheriff's deputies running their squad cars on gas seized from thieves.

This case of crime and poetic justice began in late September, when deputies confiscated fuel in a sting they called Operation Filler Up.

They arrested seven people on suspicion of stealing Pemex gasoline. The alleged thieves loaded the fuel into tank trucks and sold it for $1.40 a gallon at a makeshift gas station in Montana Vista.

The sheriff's staff seized 2,835 gallons of gas when it cracked the theft ring, Deputy Jesse Tovar said.

But deputies could not simply take the fuel. That part of the case required a higher power.

Judge Rosalio Munoz of the Justice of the Peace Court No. 4 reviewed the seizure last week and awarded the Sheriff's Office the confiscated gas.

Sheriff's officials expect to save a little more than $7,100 because of the seizure. Tovar said the Sheriff's Office rented gas pumps with nozzles, and deputies have already started filling staff vehicles with the gas.

Judges often give law enforcement agencies items seized during arrests, Tovar said.

Although the money being saved by the Sheriff's Office does not seem like a lot, he said, any extra resources help in a rugged economy.

Some deputies, he said, travel from the far East Side to the far West Side every day. Tovar said he could not estimate how much the agency typically spends on fuel purchases.

Stephanie Sanchez may be reached at ssanchez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6137.

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