By Anita Chang
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - The message is direct: Drive away without paying for gasoline and you could lose your driver's license.

Gas station owners throughout Ohio are affixing stickers with the message on their pumps in a new effort to deter would-be gasoline thieves.

Under a law that went into effect March 30, people caught stealing gasoline can have their driver's license suspended for up to six months and face a fine of up to $100 on the first offense. Previously, the punishment was just a fine.

Gas station owners say they hope the stickers will be effective, but note that it's too early to tell if they are making an impact.

Robert Cornwell, executive director of the Buckeye State Sheriffs' Association, said his group will be surveying gas station owners and deputy sheriffs and expects to have figures in three months.

"I just want people to pay for the gasoline they get," said Rod Wooley, executive vice president for supply and distribution of Certified Oil, which has 106 stations in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. Wooley estimates his company loses about $54,000 each year in Ohio in "drive-offs," about $800 per location.

At a Speedway SuperAmerica station in Columbus, assistant manager Von Cooper said Wednesday that she hasn't noticed a decline in the number of gasoline thefts in the two months that the stickers have been on the station's pumps.

"We have a lot here, and one of our district managers came by and put them up," she said. "People aren't sure if it's something that gas stations put up to deter them. ... But if they hear that people are being prosecuted, maybe it will stop."

Although officials with the Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association said gas theft normally increases when prices go up, Cooper said that wasn't the case at her location.

"It's a nonstop situation," she said. "Sometimes drive-offs get worse when prices are lower."

But Wooley said thefts at his company's stations have been worse this summer.

Motorists interviewed Wednesday said they did not know anything about the new law, although some said they have noticed the 5-by-7-inch stickers.

The sticker shows pictures of gas pumps and a stone-faced deputy sheriff holding up a driver's license and says, "If you steal this, we're going to take this."

"I've seen the sticker but never paid attention to read it," Michael Taylor of Delaware County said as he filled up his truck Wednesday in Columbus. "It seems fair. I don't steal gas, so it doesn't affect me."

Shirlie Gorman of Columbus, a customer at a Marathon gas station, said the stickers probably wouldn't deter someone who has stolen gas before.

"But maybe somebody stealing for the first time, they might think about it," she said.