Grease is the word: Third cooking oil theft tied to Worcester

• Posted by Worcester News 10 hours ago - Filed in News - #Worcester  #Auburn  #crime  #arrests  #Auburn Police  #cooking oil theft  #used cooking oil  #restaurant theft  #Carlos De Leon  #Joseph Reyes Rodriguez  #U.S. Marshals Service  #Jasmine Restaurant  - 355 views

  
  Auburn Police Department photos

  AUBURN — A suspected cooking oil theft in Auburn led police to arrest 2 Worcester men, including a fugitive wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service, in the third such case involving Worcester residents in less than a month.

  Joseph Reyes Rodriguez, 19, and Carlos De Leon, 46, both of Worcester, were arrested last Wednesday, October 28th, and charged with larceny under $1,200, attempted larceny and conspiracy, according to the Auburn Police Department.

  Police said officers responded to Auburn Plaza about 5:37 a.m. after an alert TJ Maxx employee reported seeing 2 people removing used cooking oil from a dumpster behind Jasmine Restaurant. The suspects left in a van before officers arrived.

  Officers searched the surrounding area and soon located a suspicious van behind Chili's on Southbridge Street. Inside were large containers used to collect cooking oil, including 1 that was partially filled, police said.

  Neither restaurant had authorized the men to collect cooking oil, according to police.

  During the investigation, both men allegedly gave officers several different names before police established their identities.

  A subsequent records check revealed that De Leon had an active arrest warrant issued by the U.S. Marshals Service out of Virginia, police said. Authorities did not specify the charges underlying the warrant.

  The department couldn't resist poking fun at the unusual circumstances.

  "Now, we're certainly not in the business of giving career advice to fugitives, but if federal authorities are looking for you, driving around Auburn at 5:30 in the morning stealing cooking oil might not be the best strategy for staying under the radar," police wrote.

  Police added another quip about the location of the arrests: "Usually, a trip to Chili's ends with us taking a Triple Dipper to go. This time, we took a wanted fugitive to go."

  The arrests mark the third reported cooking oil theft case involving Worcester residents since September 30th, when a Worcester man was among 3 arrested in Hampton, N.H., in connection with a series of similar thefts.

  In that case, Jose Rivera Deleon, 31, of Worcester, was arrested along with 2 other men after investigators linked a rental truck from a Worcester Home Depot to an August 6th cooking oil theft in Hampton and an August 21st incident at Imperial Buffet on Maple Avenue in Shrewsbury.

  Hampton police later stopped another rental truck and discovered approximately 1,000 gallons of cooking oil believed to have been stolen. All 3 were charged with theft and receiving stolen property.

  Just 10 days later, on October 10th, 3 more Worcester residents were arrested in Beverly after police investigated the theft of used cooking oil from 2 restaurants.

  Jassiel Benitez Diaz, 18, and 2 boys, ages 17 and 16, were arrested after officers found a rental van containing a pump and 3 large liquid storage tanks. Police estimated the recovered cooking oil was worth approximately $2,750.

  Used cooking oil has resale value because it can be recycled into products such as biofuel, making restaurant grease containers attractive targets for thieves.

  Authorities have not indicated that the 3 cases are connected beyond the Worcester residency of some of those arrested.

  Auburn police credited Officers Donahue, Lareau, Montague and Ortiz, Detective Ryan and Sgt. Wildman for their work in the latest investigation.