Multiple individuals were charged in connection with a scheme to steal cooking oil from restaurants throughout the South and the Midwest for resale as biodiesel fuel, officials say.
On December 9, 2025, a federal grand jury in Des Moines returned a nine-count indictment charging several people with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit the offense of interstate transportation of stolen property, and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.
Officials say that the defendants used trucks to steal used cooking oil from collection tanks located at restaurants throughout Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kentucky…