SILVER SPRING, Md. — Two men were arrested early Tuesday morning after Montgomery County police caught them stealing used cooking oil from grease dumpsters behind downtown restaurants.
The suspects, identified as 24-year-old Michael Cordones-Lopez and 61-year-old Patricio Cardones-Molina, were charged with theft after officers observed them siphoning oil from locked dumpsters into tanks inside a van. The arrests took place in an alley near the Filmore Silver Spring and Amina Thai Silver Spring restaurant on Colesville Road.
At approximately 2:20 a.m., officers conducting a criminal enforcement detail spotted a gray Ford E-350 van on Mayor Lane, an alley behind several restaurants. Police say the two suspects exited the vehicle wearing masks and looked into several grease dumpsters before driving to the alley behind the Filmore. There, officers say the men used a prybar to force open dumpsters and transferred the oil using a generator-powered siphon.
When officers stopped the van, they found the stolen oil, along with equipment used in the theft. Police noted that used cooking oil is often sold to companies that refine it into biodiesel fuel and other products. One restaurant owner reported selling oil for $2.38 per pound and estimated losses of up to 20,000 pounds from thefts in the DMV region.
Both suspects were taken into custody, and authorities are continuing to investigate the broader pattern of cooking oil thefts in the area.
