LEWISTON – Customers have flung items across the counter at Judy Hazelton. Some people swear at her and storm away in a rage.

Hazelton doesn’t work at a bar or some rough and tumble club. She works at a convenience store that happens to sell gasoline. And lately, customers filling up their tanks at the Mobil Mart on Lisbon Street have been irritable. They are required to pay before they pump.

“Some people are not happy about it all,” Hazelton said. “They come in cussing and cursing. We get credit cards thrown at us. But we have to do what we have to do.”

Welcome to the world of sky-high gas prices. Some stores in the area have imposed policies requiring that fuel customers pay up front. The reason? So many people have been filling their tanks and then driving away without forking over their payment.

“Gas drive-offs have always been a problem,” said Hazelton at the Mobil where unleaded was selling for $2.09 a gallon on Tuesday. The store has been working with a pre-pay for gasoline policy for three weeks.

Whether record high prices have anything to do with gas drive-offs is an issue open to debate. Police in Lewiston and Auburn said they have not seen a rise in incidents of gas theft since fuel prices soared in recent weeks.

“People aren’t stealing because of the gas prices,” said Sgt. Frank Keough of the Lewiston Police Department. “They steal because they are thieves.”

At some gas stations and convenience stores around the area, clerks tend to agree. The number of customers who flee without paying for gas doesn’t tend to fluctuate based on prices. It’s an ongoing problem.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s 99 cents a gallon,” said a clerk at Three Cousins Getty. “If someone plans to drive off without paying, they’ll drive off no matter how much it costs.”

In Auburn Tuesday, a customer drove away from a convenience store without paying for $63 worth of fuel. Police were called and an officer went out. The suspected thief was not caught. But investigators in that city also say they have not noticed any spike in the number of gas drive-offs over recent weeks or months.

“You’re going to get a couple a day no matter what,” said deputy police Chief Phil Crowell.

Some of the gas thefts investigated by police turn out to be honest mistakes, officials say. A person thinks they have swiped their credit or debit card, but it didn’t work properly. They fill up their tank and drive away, not knowing right away they have stolen from the store or gas station.

“We’ve had people drive off without paying,” said Richard Bosse, at Three Cousins. “They come back to pay later after they realize what happened. This is a very honest store. It’s always crowded. Someone will notice if you drive away without paying for your gas.”

Three Cousins, where unleaded gas was selling for $2.03 Tuesday, has not instituted a pay-before-you-pump policy. Neither have the Irving stores in Lewiston and Auburn. Many of the Mobil stations have gone that route, however, and there’s no telling if it’s a temporary plan or a permanent one.

Nationally, gas theft totals $112 million annually for convenience store filling stations, according to a recent study by the National Association of Convenience Stores.

For police in the Twin Cities, responding to reported gas drive-offs is part of the job. Both Lewiston and Auburn departments report a handful of reports of fuel theft each week.

Catching suspects is not always easy. Police need a description of the suspect vehicle and a plate number always helps. That’s not simple when one store clerk is trying to handle a half dozen customers at one time.

But investigators say they will be busting and prosecuting gas thieves just like anyone else who steals. Even if they have to chase stingy motorists around to do it.

“It requires a lot of investigation,” said Keough. “But they are indeed catchable.”

More information can be found on the Web at http://www.nacsonline.com/