NEWARK, N.J. — The manager of a New Jersey gas station has pleaded guilty in a case in which admitted to billing approximately $78,000 in fraudulent fuel charges to Amtrak and more than a dozen other customers.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a press release that Umer Hassan Mir, 40, of South Amboy, N.J., on Tuesday pleaded guilty by video conference to knowingly and with intent to defraud effecting transactions valued at more than $1,000, using devices issued to other persons.
From February 2018 through August 2021, Mir made fraudulent charges to fuel credit cards from the General Services Administration that were assigned to Amtrak vehicles, using information he collected during legitimate fuel purchases. Mir then withdrew cash in the amount of the transition, which he used for personal expenses and to pay another employee to work extra hours on Mir’s behalf.
The charge carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
Agents of Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General, the GSA Office of Inspector General, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Metuchen, N.J., Police Department were involved in the investigation.
Sounds like Amtrak’s fuel supplier in Savannah who pumped less than the usual amount of fuel needed into the layover loco, then stuck the nozzle into the truck’s fill dome and pumped away a bit longer. Amtrak paid as charged, but wondered why the loco was running out of fuel short of Washington DC. It wasn’t too long until they caught up with the cheat.