McDonald's stakeout nabs cooking-grease thieves, police allege
After at least two burglaries in which cooking grease was stolen from a McDonald's in Hemet, the owner decided to stake out the restaurant last week after business hours.
At about 1:50 a.m. Thursday, the owner called police and said burglars were at the restaurant, stealing grease, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.Police said that when they arrived at the scene on West Florida Avenue they found Noel Portillo, 22, of Compton and Ricardo Robles, 24, of Long Beach sitting inside a Dodge Ram pickup truck with the engine running and a large metal tank mounted on the bed.
Police reviewed surveillance footage before arresting the pair.
Theft of cooking grease has been a growing problem. The grease, which can be refined into biodiesel fuel, typically is sold to recyclers.ALSO:
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