Was your license suspended?

Have to second @DJohnM 's comment, the question of whether your license was suspended or not seems rather crucial here. Also what locale/jurisdiction was this in?

If the officer sees someone at a gas station working on a vehicle and nobody else is around, it seems like a reasonable inference that they operated the vehicle in order to get it there. An officer can have probable cause for an arrest without actually witnessing the violation. If you have evidence to show that you didn't operate the vehicle (e.g. testimony of the person who actually did drive it, or a receipt to show it was towed), you can of course present it in court.

Yes. My license is revoked in the state of kansas for 3 years.

@Quenton - any of whom would presumably testify that you did, in fact, operate the vehicle - and that it didn't just appear out of thin air at a gas station where you just happened to be passing by and decided out of the goodness of your heart to add fluids?

The vehicle is registered under my name. The gas station attendant did not see me operate the vehicle due to customer volume at the time. I returned to ask him. The people in the gas station were not familiar to me or the gas station attendant. Is providing a "courtesy" to someone considered a traffic stop on a vehicle not in operation on private property?

So that would be a "yes" to your license suspended and presumably a "yes" to you having driven it there?

Correct. My license is suspended. And presumably yes.

Did at anytime the officer see you behind the steering wheel of the car while the engine was running? Including you leaving the scene or exiting the vehicle. Even if you did drive to the scene, an answer only answer "yes" if the cop saw you inside the car while the engine was running at any point of your encounter.

Also what is the Jurisdiction? United States? If so, which State? can you give a county or city? If not, which country?

No he did not witness me operating the vehicle

Emporia, kansas. Lyon county

Did they get your license by asking for it or demanding it?

@NateEldredge indeed, if there were credible evidence that the suspect hadn't driven the vehicle, presenting it might have prevented the arrest in the first place.

@IllusiveBrian It's also possible that they got the license by looking up the tags and seeing that the vehicle was owned by someone whose license had been suspended. They could then infer (from whatever other evidence they had available) that the person they'd spoken to was the owner of the vehicle and that he'd driven there.

The tags were not able to be seen due to mud covering the tag. This is the purpose for the officer pulling into the lot for the previously mentioned "courtesy". At that time i was at the door of the gas station smoking the rest of my cigarette. I simply stated that i would ensure it got cleaned off and thanked him for the "courtesy"

Therefore, wouldnt any probable cause be speculation?

So did you drive to the petrol station yourself with a suspended license (don’t answer if the answer is yes), in which case you have committed the crime and just try to find out how to avoid punishment?

@Quenton they clearly took your car's license plate number when they gave you the "courtesy," because how else would they have known that your license was suspended? Either the rear license plate was legible from a shorter distance or they got the number from the front tag or windshield sticker (if your car has one). The thing is that probable cause can be speculation, as long as the speculation is probably correct. You were there with your car in a place where it is unlikely to have been unless you drove it there; that is probable cause to believe that you drove it there.

In some states, to be convicted of an offense, the officer needs to have witnessed you committing the offense. I have not studied this matter in Kansas. Let's start with specifically what is the statute and charge they wrote up? Were you arrested, or was a citation for an offense provided? Did you get taken in and booked? Is the charge a violation or a misdemeanor? Was the charge for operating an unregistered/unlicensed vehicle, or was it for you be without a license (you mentioned the plate at the beginning of your posting, but there is talk about your license)?

Again, what exactly are the statutes charged on the citation?