A work truck that looked like any other utility vehicle on a Ventura County road was, detectives say, a fuel station on wheels — fitted with concealed extra tanks, large fuel bladders and its own pump, handle and meter for moving and measuring fuel. The Ventura County Sheriff's Office says that truck has now been seized as evidence and its driver, Tigran Gabrielian, 61, of Murrieta, is in jail — arrested on November 4 at a gas station in Newbury Park after an investigation that began with a reported data breach at an Oxnard fuel company and a confirmed loss of more than $113,000.
Source: Ventura County Sheriff's Office — 'Fuel Theft Suspects Arrested,' Nixle release, Nov. 5, 2026
The case began on October 17, 2026, when Headquarters Patrol deputies responded to Poole Commercial Fuels, in the 3000 block of Vineyard Avenue in the unincorporated area of Oxnard, over a reported data breach that had resulted in the fraudulent use of the company's credit cards. The company reported that more than $113,000 had been fraudulently charged to its accounts, the Sheriff's Office said.
Source: Ventura County Sheriff's Office — 'Fuel Theft Suspects Arrested,' Nixle release, Nov. 5, 2026
Headquarters Detectives met with the company's administration and reviewed a detailed list of the fraudulent transactions. They confirmed the financial loss was approximately $113,000 and determined that several fraudulent purchases had been made at gas stations throughout Ventura County — a pattern spread across the county, not a single bad charge at one pump.
Up to $2,500 of fuel in a single visit
Detectives began contacting local gas stations and working with employees to identify the suspects. They learned the suspects were purchasing as much as $2,500 worth of fuel during a single visit, using multiple stolen credit cards to complete the transactions. Volumes that large carried a clue of their own: detectives suspected the vehicles involved had been modified to store unusually large quantities of fuel.
Surveillance footage from local gas stations gave detectives license plate information for the suspect vehicles. The Sheriff's Office Flock Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) system then assisted detectives in identifying the vehicles — and in connecting them to additional fuel thefts throughout Ventura County, the Sheriff's Office said.
November 4: tracked from one pump to the next
On November 4, Headquarters Detectives received information that the suspects were again using stolen credit card information at gas stations in the Newbury Park area. Headquarters Detectives, joined by detectives from the West County Special Enforcement Unit, responded — but by the time they arrived, the suspect had already taken approximately $900 worth of fuel and left. Using the Flock ALPR system, detectives relocated the suspect vehicle at another gas station and detained the driver at a station in the 2000 block of Borchard Road in Newbury Park, where further investigation showed he had again used stolen credit card information to fraudulently purchase approximately $800 worth of fuel.
Source: Ventura County Sheriff's Office — 'Fuel Theft Suspects Arrested,' Nixle release, Nov. 5, 2026
Blank cards, Post-it notes and a hidden pump
During a search following the arrest, detectives found multiple blank credit cards in Gabrielian's possession — each with a Post-it note attached containing an expiration date and a PIN number — along with a large sum of cash, which was seized as evidence, the Sheriff's Office said. Then detectives examined the truck itself. It appeared to be an ordinary work utility vehicle, but on closer inspection they discovered additional fuel tanks and large fuel bladders concealed inside, and a pump system — including a handle and meter — that allowed fuel to be transferred and measured. The truck was seized as evidence. Independent coverage of the arrest, drawing on New York Post reporting, described the vehicle the same way: a secret mobile fueling station hidden inside an ordinary-looking truck.
Charges — and a hunt for more suspects
Gabrielian was booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility on nine counts of identity theft (Penal Code Section 530.5(a)) and grand theft (Penal Code Section 487(a)), the Sheriff's Office said. The charges are allegations: he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. The investigation remains ongoing, and detectives believe multiple additional suspects may be involved. The Sheriff's Office is encouraging anyone with information about these thefts to come forward, and says Headquarters Detectives will continue pursuing all available leads to identify those responsible.
Fuel is one of the biggest costs in trucking, and 2026 prices have made every gallon a target: the U.S. Energy Information Administration put the national on-highway diesel average at $6.292 a gallon for the week of November 2, with California diesel at $8.076. Company and fleet fuel cards — the kind of accounts at the centre of this case — are a known weak point: one breached account can be charged again and again, at station after station, before the loss is spotted, and the bill lands on the business that owns the cards.
Ventura County detectives have seen this pattern before. In a separate case in October, sheriff's detectives arrested four Los Angeles County men after allegedly watching diesel being siphoned from a Freightliner truck at a Thousand Oaks business; that investigation began on September 18, when about 70 gallons of diesel were reported missing from a semi-truck at a storage yard in unincorporated Oxnard, and detectives found a van fitted with two fuel tanks holding a combined 2,400 gallons, plus pumping equipment. The Sheriff's Office has not said the two cases are connected, and they are being reported here as separate investigations.
What happens next runs on two tracks. Gabrielian's case will move through the Ventura County courts on the identity-theft and grand-theft charges, and no court date was given in the Sheriff's Office release. At the same time, detectives say the wider investigation is not finished. In its statement, the Sheriff's Office said: 'When businesses in our community are victimized by criminals, our deputies and detectives will work diligently alongside them to investigate these crimes, identify those responsible, and pursue justice.'