CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced a lawsuit Thursday against a Rockford gas station and its owner for allegedly charging consumers premium and mid-grade prices for regular-grade gasoline.

Madigan alleges that TWI Petro Group Inc. and its president, Tony Wahbeh of Skokie, pumped regular gasoline into tanks priced for sale as premium- and mid-grade gas.

"Gas prices are already sky high," Madigan said. "I'm not going to tolerate gas station owners illegally profiting by ripping off customers. In this case, the owner was selling low octane gas at high octane prices."

Madigan's office received a tip that since at least November through August, Wahbeh allegedly sold regular-grade Phillips 66 brand gasoline at the higher prices at his Gas n Go station at 1603 11th St. in Rockford. The Illinois Department of Agriculture received a similar tip and alleged that the station's gas labeled "premium" was only 87.8 octane instead of the advertised 93 octane.

Madigan is asking that the court require Wahbeh to pay damages for overcharging customers and requested that the court impose civil penalties on Wahbeh of $50,000 for each violation of the Consumer Fraud Act, $50,000 for each violation committed with the intent to defraud and an additional $10,000 for each violation committed against a person 65 years or older.