PALM COAST, Fla. — * The above video was originally published in June 2021.
You've likely heard of thieves ripping off catalytic converters from cars or stripping copper from anything they can find to sell or pawn to the highest bidder.
But used cooking oil?
Flagler County Sheriff's Office arrested two men Thursday accusing them of doing just that. It's a trend that's growing around the country which typically occurs when gas prices spike.
"The used cooking oil is processed and used to produce low-carbon intensity renewable diesel," Jillian Fleming of Texas-based Darling Ingredients told First Coast News. "Used cooking oil can also be used in a number of other applications, including shampoos, pet food, detergents and more. Unfortunately, used cooking oil theft is on the rise."
About 150,000 restaurants and grocery stores contract with Darling to properly dispose of used cooking oil.
Woody's BBQ on Flagler Plaza Drive in Palm Coast is one of those businesses. That's where Flagler County deputies say they found Rui Gen Lin, 48, of St. Johns, and Rong Chen, 41, of Gainesville, behind the restaurant Thursday with a white box truck.
Lin and Chen were "wearing headlamps as they pumped used cooking oil out of a vat kept in a fenced-in area at the rear of the business" at about 3:15 a.m. a Flagler County Sheriff's Office news release states.
Inside the truck, investigators found more than 7,000 pounds of used cooking oil, also referred to "black gold," worth nearly $5,000, the news release states. Along with the large container of oil, deputies also found a pump, bolt cutters and a pry bar.
Lin is the owner Jacksonville-based L&L recycling. Rui told deputies he worked for Green Star, a Miami-based biodiesel business, an incident report states.
"They own a company that buys and recycles old cooking oil, but in this case, they tried to increase their profits by stealing the oil," Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly stated in the news release.
After making contact with the restaurant's owner, the arresting deputy was told there were no scheduled oil pick ups and the men did not have permission to be there.
