Clandestine cooking oil caper: 2 men arrested in Palm Coast, accused of stealing oil
A Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy spotted two men loading an unmarked truck with used cooking oil outside a closed Woody's Bar-B-Que restaurant in the early morning darkness in Palm Coast. Soon after, the men were arrested, accused of stealing the “liquid gold” in a clandestine cooking oil caper.
Rui Gen Lin, 48, of St. Johns County, and Rong Chen, 41, of Gainesville, were each being held Friday on $5,500 bond at the Flagler County jail. They were each charged with burglary of an unoccupied structure and possession of burglary tools with intent, both felonies, and misdemeanor petit theft.
Deputies found more than 7,000 pounds of used cooking oil valued at nearly $5,000 inside their box truck, a release stated.
Lyft driver attacker sentenced: Palm Coast man who tore down plastic barrier, attacked Lyft driver sentenced to 90 days in jail
2 police cars stolen: Man steals one cop car, then steals another cop car in bid to escape, Volusia sheriff says
Carjacking attempt victim dies: Man shot in DeLand carjacking attempt last month dies
“Cooking oil theft, you ever heard of that?” a deputy asked another in body camera video at the scene outside Woody's.
“What?” the other deputy responds.
“You ever heard of cooking oil theft?” the deputy asked again.
“No,” the other responds.
“That’s a thing,” the first deputy said.
And that thing is on the upswing. Cooking oil thefts have increased along with the price of oil, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly stated in the release, which described the used cooking oil as "liquid gold."
“With the price of oil rising, the theft of used cooking oil is increasing across the country,” Staly stated. “This was a great job by Deputy Kyle Gaddie for seeing something suspicious while on patrol and stopping to check it out.”
Lin owns L & L Recycling in Jacksonville, the sheriff’s office stated.
“They own a company that buys and recycles old cooking oil but, in this case, they tried to increase profits by stealing the oil,” Staly stated. “Used cooking oil is often recycled to make diesel fuel and used in other products.”
Gaddie was on patrol about 3:15 a.m. Thursday when he noticed a man with a headlamp inside a fenced area behind Woody’s, 99 Flagler Plaza Drive, in the Flagler Plaza shopping center off State Road 100 near Interstate 95.
Gaddie could not tell what the man was doing, but he saw an unmarked white box truck back into the fenced area. Gaddie then saw a second man open the truck, take out a large hose and start a pump, the affidavit stated.
Drums full of used cooking oil
Gaddie wrote that unmarked vehicles at unusual business hours was a common sign of cooking oil theft. While the men were pumping oil into what appeared to be a 1,000-gallon plastic drum in the unmarked truck, Gaddie walked up and questioned them. The large drum was nearly full and behind it were two smaller 250-gallon drums which appeared full, the affidavit stated.
The deputy also saw bolt cutters, a hammer and a crowbar partially covered by oil towels, the affidavit stated. He also saw some locks commonly used to lock oil containers and gates.
Lin told the deputy that he worked for a biodiesel company in Miami. But the oil storage container at Woody’s had a notice stating that the oil was the property of Dar Pro Ingredients, pursuant to a contract with restaurant, and that Dar Pro uses uniformed employees and clearly marked trucks.
Deputies contacted Woody’s owner, Matthew Crews, who said no one was scheduled to pick up oil that day nor should anyone be within the gated area at that time.
Lin said his boss told him to pick up the oil, the affidavit stated. The deputy asked for paperwork and Lin showed him a message thread on his phone with the name “Russell Oil,” which stated something about notifying him when a collection was complete. Lin showed a second message thread from a different name but declined to show the deputy the conversation.
The two men were unable to slip away. The sheriff’s office seized the box truck and will initiate forfeiture proceedings to take the vehicle, the release stated.
The sheriff's office asked any local business missing some grease to call dispatch at 386-313-4911 to file a report as the investigation is continuing.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Men accused of cooking oil theft from Woody's Bar-B-Que in Palm Coast
