SILVER SPRING, Md. (7News) — Two men were caught stealing used cooking oil from two Silver Spring, Maryland restaurants and arrested on Tuesday, according to Montgomery County police.
The two men using a gray Ford F-350 van, entered an alley on Colesville Road behind the Filmore Silver Spring and Amina Thai Silver Spring, breaking open two locked grease dumpsters and using a generator to siphon the oil into the van, police said.
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Police reportedly followed the vehicle when it was first spotted on Mayor Lane at around 2:20 a.m., and arrested the two men shortly after they siphoned oil from the second grease dumpster.
Both men, 24-year-old Michael Cordones-Lopez and 61-year-old Patricio Cardones-Molina were charged with fourth-degree burglary and three counts of theft under $100. Cordones-Lopez and Cardones-Molina have been released on $5,000 and $300 unsecured personal bonds.
Typically, restaurants sell used cooking oil to companies that make biodiesel fuel and other products. One of the impacted restaurants told police they sell the oil at $2.38 per pound and have had roughly 20,000 pounds stolen from several restaurants around the DMV region in recent months.