Investigations

On February 21, Antonio Borges, of Hialeah, FL, pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Miami, FL to felony charges of illegally transporting hazardous fuel without the required HazMat placards and using counterfeit credit cards. Borges was sentenced to three years probation and ordered to pay $1,059 in restitution for illegal transactions. Borges admitted to purchasing gasoline using counterfeit ExxonIMobil credit cards at several gas stations in the Miami area in July 2003. At one location, Borges pumped over 121 gallons of fuel, gathered through two consecutive purchases, into an illegally modified pick-up truck containing a large gas tank. The truck (which has a manufactured fuel tank capacity of only 19 gallons) was not placarded as required by DOT regulations. This was a joint investigation with the U.S. Postal ServiceIOIG, the U.S. Secret Service, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Miami-Dade Police Department, Hialeah Police Department, and the Florida division of FMCSA.