3 men suspected of passing on gas payments

Three men were booked at Costa Mesa jail early Thursday after they allegedly stole thousands of gallons of gas from an Arco gas station in the 3000 block of Newport Boulevard, according to police.

Kenneth Ray Washington, 26, of Irvine; Edward Loud Jr., 34, of Norwalk; and Victor Larry Mendoza, 23, of La Puente were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit grand theft and possessing burglary tools around 12:30 a.m. Thursday after police observed the alleged theft.

Arco officials had noted large losses of gasoline — sometimes the station was missing thousands of gallons of gas in a day — during the hours the station was closed. Costa Mesa police staked out the gas station and during the course of the investigation, they pulled over two big-rig tractors after they had allegedly fueled up at the closed station, according to police.

The suspects allegedly had keys and other instruments that could be used to bypass the “pay feature.” The gas station was determined to be missing about 200 gallons of gas Thursday.

Both tractors were impounded, according to police.

Washington was being held on $100,000 bail, and Loud and Mendoza were being held on $20,000 bail, according to police.