Eureka Police arrested a 49-year-old Iowa man for allegedly stealing used fryer oil from the Super Smokers and Imo’s Pizza restaurants. The man also is suspected of stealing oil from restaurants in Indiana, Kentucky and Mississippi, police reported.
Officers were called at about 1:30 a.m. July 30 to Super Smokers, 1567 W. Fifth St., when a 2017 Ford F-4500 was seen in surveillance video circling the business. The box truck was then seen at the nearby Imo’s, 167 Eureka Towne Center Drive, the report said.
Eureka Police were contacted by an employee from Ace Grease Service of Millstadt, Ill., which is a company that collects used oil from restaurants. The employee told officers he believed someone in the box truck was stealing oil from the two restaurants, the report said.
Officers saw the box truck traveling east on Fifth Street and stopped it near Savory Lane. The man driving the box truck spoke Chinese and was unable to effectively communicate in English, and officers used a translation hotline to talk with the man, according to the report.
The man showed the officers he had directions on his phone to get to the Hola Mexican Food restaurant, 106 S. Central Ave., in Eureka. The man then called someone he identified as his supervisor at the Lefty Green Co., a Kentucky company that collects used fryer oil, the report said.
The man on the phone told officers that he was confused why one of the company’s trucks was in Missouri because the business operates only in Tennessee and Kentucky. Officers then searched the truck and allegedly found equipment used to collect and store oil, and the storage tanks appeared to be about a quarter full of used cooking oil, according to the report.
Officers learned a similar box truck had been connected to other cooking oil thefts in other states. They also learned that a man, who resembled the truck’s driver, was allegedly seen wearing reflective vest and hard hat at restaurants where oil thefts had been reported, the report said.
Officers allegedly found a vest and hard hat in the truck, according to the report.
The man was arrested and taken to the Police Station, where he was booked and released pending the application of warrants, the report said.
An Ace Grease Service employee came to the area, and the grease from the Ford was transferred into a different truck. Approximately 403 gallons, which is worth $1,704.90, were transferred to the Ace Grease Service truck, according to the report.
Police believe the grease that was transferred was stolen from the two Eureka restaurants, Lt. Brett Grittini said.
Eureka Police will seek a charge against the man through the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for felony stealing, Grittini said.