Thieves target restaurants, steal cooking grease to sell on black market

ANNANDALE, Va. (ABC7) — Cooking grease pooled in front of the Annandale dumpster—the scene of the crime.

Two Fairfax County Police officers said it’s the spot where they arrested a man who stole hundreds of gallons of cooking grease from restaurants across Northern Virginia.

ABC7 obtained a search warrant that shows Alvaro Mendez Flores admitted to the April 4th theft.

Surveillance video showed the 3:30 am crime—the driver backing up a white box truck, hooking up a green hose, and firing up a generator, which helped pump grease into a 1,600 gallon container in the back of the truck.

The footage also showed the police, who said they caught Mendez Flores in the act.

Court documents show the Richmond resident told detectives that his boss would give him 25 cents a gallon—around $300 to $400 a trip.

Mendez Flores said he got away with up to 900 gallons of grease in March, and claims his boss has other drivers who also steal grease in Virginia and Maryland.

Investigators said stolen cooking grease is often sold to bio-fuel facilities to be recycled for around $2 a gallon—making it a lucrative black market.

But that means the money is not going to the restaurant owners who disposed of the fatty oils.

The company Valley Proteins, Inc. removes grease from businesses across the DMV.

An attorney for the company said grease thefts are a “gigantic problem” across the country.

The lawyer told ABC7 he has seen several hundred grease thefts in our area during his seven years on the job.

Investigators said the case is still active and other arrests could be coming.