A court has convicted a former Olerex employee who, according to the charges, stole a total of 67,000 liters of diesel fuel from storage tanks while working at a gas station in Jüri.
The Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs announced last week that a court had recently ruled on a case involving the theft of nearly 67,000 liters of diesel fuel from a gas station in dozens of separate incidents.
Toomas Tomberg, a prosecutor with the Northern District Prosecutor's Office who handled the case, told ERR that the thefts took place at the Olerex gas station in Jüri.
Prosecutors accused Igor Sorokin of using his access to the gas station's systems while working as a customer service representative to repeatedly steal diesel fuel from a storage tank.
According to the charges, he committed a total of 51 thefts between December 9, 2022, and January 25, 2024. To conceal the thefts, he switched off the gas station's video surveillance system before pumping diesel fuel into tanks installed in a vehicle he was using. Prosecutors accused him of stealing nearly 67,000 liters of diesel fuel worth almost €108,600.
The court found Sorokin guilty of large-scale, systematic theft and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison, suspended for a three-year probationary period. He was also ordered to compensate Olerex for €108,589 in financial losses. The ruling has not yet entered into force.
"The court proceedings confirmed that this was not an isolated act but a series of systematic thefts committed over an extended period. Although the defendant was caught in the act during one incident in January 2024, work schedules, video surveillance logs, storage tank records, witness testimony and other evidence gathered allowed the court to find that the remaining incidents described in the charges had also been proven," Tomberg said.
He added that the court agreed with prosecutors that the evidence formed a coherent and reliable body of proof establishing the defendant's actions throughout the period covered by the charges.
According to Tomberg, the case is notable both for the amount of fuel stolen and the length of time over which the thefts took place.
"It also demonstrates that prolonged, concealed activity causing financial losses to a company can be proven even when direct evidence relates to only part of the criminal activity, while the remaining incidents are established through a body of mutually corroborating circumstantial evidence," he said.
Recurring fuel theft on the rise
According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, more than 2,000 fuel thefts have been recorded so far this year, nearly 50 percent more than a year ago.
The ministry noted that this does not necessarily mean people across Estonia have suddenly become twice as inclined to steal. Rather, the statistics suggest that thieves have become more systematic in their activities and that some incidents are being classified as criminal offenses because of their repeated nature.
A single theft may constitute a misdemeanor, but when someone repeatedly and knowingly engages in the same behavior, it becomes a criminal offense.
Fuel thefts are largely responsible for the more than 6 percent year-on-year increase in property crimes, the ministry said.
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