State officials investigating Ovid gas station quality

OVID, Mich. (WLNS) – The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is investigating the Citgo gas station in Ovid following customer concerns regarding gas quality.

Among the complaints, includes Matt Hitchens who said his $30 worth of gas he filled up with has turned into more than $1000 worth of vehicle damage.

“Saturday morning I went to get gas,” Hitchens said. “The pump was running extremely slow. I swear I was pumping gas for over ten minutes and I only ended up getting $30 dollars in.”

He added that his Chevrolet Silverado is around a year old with more than 10,000 miles on it, but now has to be towed to the mechanic shop.

“I started it up and the check engine light went on, it was blowing smoke, it was chugging really bad, it was idling,” he said. “I was parked in the driveway, I tried to move it to this spot here and it just did not want to move.”

Hitchens claims that he’s not the only one who is having problems from the gas at the station.

“I needed a repair done so I contacted where I bought the truck, it was Graff in Durand, and I was telling him what the problem was and they told me they had just got another vehicle in that morning doing the same thing,” he added. “I wanted to warn everybody in the area. So, I just put a post out on Facebook, just a warning, ‘Until they get it figured out, don’t get gas at Citgo.’ Well, then I started getting people just commenting that, they too, are having problems with their vehicle after they got gas there this weekend.”

Officials with MDARD said following the concerns, they showed up first-thing Monday morning to investigate.

“During the course of our inspection, we did identify that there was about seven inches of water in one of the underground storage tanks. So, we have taken samples, we will be sending them back to our lab,” MDARD Communications Director Jennifer Holton said.

Staff with MDARD found that the station had already listed the dispensers as “out of order” for all grades of fuel when they arrived.

State officials then enforced a sale stoppage for the Regular 87 and Midgrade 89 (blend).

6 News also spoke with the store manager, Staci Schneider, who did not want to go on camera. She said the store is looking into everything to get the problem fixed and help those who are affected.

It’s unclear when the pumps will reopen.

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