Advertisement

McDonald’s stakeout nabs cooking-grease thieves, police allege

Share via

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

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.

Advertisement

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:

Submit your photos

Quiz: Test your photography knowledge

Southern California Moments: Best of November

Advertisement

-- Adolfo Flores

Advertisement