CITY OF ULSTER, NY – City police have released the names of three people charged since April with the theft of used cooking oil from tubs outside restaurants in the area.
The stolen oil is eventually converted into biodiesel fuel and resold, authorities said.
William Urbina Jr. of New York, age not provided, was arrested April 26 and charged with grand larceny, felony and petty larceny, possession of burglary tools, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal mischief, all misdemeanors, according to City of Ulster Police Chief Kyle Berardi.
Later, on Aug. 9, Marquis Q. Little, 30, and Eva C. Silvero, 29, both of Rahway, NJ, were charged with misdemeanor petty theft in connection with another theft, said Berardi.
Berardi provided the arrest information following a request made pursuant to the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Reached on Wednesday, an Ulster City Court clerk said Urbina’s case had been sent to a grand jury and a warrant had been issued for Little’s arrest after he failed to appear. in Ulster City Court in September. She had no record of Silvero’s case.
Little and Silvero were turned over to Kingston police on August 9, Berardi said. Both have been charged in Kingston with grand larceny, a felony, according to Nicole Murphy, chief clerk of Kingston City Court.
Murphy said both cases remain open and pending. She said Little is represented by the Ulster County Public Defender’s Office and Silvero is represented by solicitor Gerald Carey, who has been assigned to handle her case.
Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti did not immediately respond to a phone message asking why none of the arrests were included in the department’s online arrest log.
The Ulster County Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on investigations into cooking oil thefts in the county, particularly those in the towns of Ulster and New Paltz and in the Kingston city.
The arrests are among several others in what was described by Ulster City Police Detective Joseph Trapanese in early October as a “large-scale operation” involving several dozen individuals.
Ulster Police Detective Sgt. Cheryl Benjamin and Trapanese said the investigation included the FBI. An FBI spokesperson said only that, as a matter of principle, the FBI neither confirms nor denies investigations.
State Trooper Steven Nevel of Troop F said state police are aware of biodiesel thefts in Troop F’s jurisdiction and are investigating them.
Trapanese also said the FBI is also investigating Buffalo Biodiesel employees. Buffalo Biodiesel is a Tonawanda-based company that converts used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel after purchasing the oil from restaurants that store it in outdoor tanks for collection.
Many restaurants have outside faucets or tanks with locks and contracts with legitimate companies like Buffalo Biodiesel who buy the waste oil from them and legally convert it into biodiesel fuel.
In September, the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office said two Yonkers residents were facing charges in connection with the September 21 theft of cooking oil from a restaurant in the town of Esopus.
Elmin Sanchez-Trochez, 33, and Paola Torres-Jimenez, 37, were arrested around 2:20 a.m. on Wednesday, September 21 in the town of Esopus and each charged with misdemeanor petty larceny, according to a news release. from the sheriff’s office.
Their arrests were made after deputies investigating a “suspicious vehicle” at the restaurant discovered they were stealing the waste oil, police said. The sheriff’s office did not identify the restaurant.
These arrests came just days before a series of similar incidents reported by Buffalo Biodiesel in the city of Kingston and the city of Ulster on September 23 and 26 and amid a New Paltz investigation into thefts on August 30. and Sept. 15.
In letters sent to New Paltz Police, Ulster County District Attorney’s Office, State Police, FBI, Department of Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Department of Justice Counsel and to the New York State Attorney General, and copy to the Freeman, Buffalo Biodiesel reported the “breaking in and/or theft” of cooking oil from its equipment at several restaurants in Ulster County.
Each letter reads: “Please understand that you have (received) and will receive many letters like this from us, as burglaries and thefts in your jurisdiction are a major problem that will not be solved without the action of your office and other law enforcement agencies. agencies at all levels. The theft of used cooking oil not only harms Buffalo Biodiesel tens of millions of dollars each year – it also directly harms the individual restaurateurs who sell the oil to us, i.e. restaurateurs and voters of your jurisdiction.
In June, after reporting the arrest of two people who allegedly stole cooking oil from area restaurants, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra said the defendants were part of a group individuals who stole cooking oil from area restaurants and sold it to be turned into biodiesel fuel.
In June, Sinagra said people who cut pump locks before emptying tanks stole oil from 12 Saugerties restaurants over the past year.
Two charged with cooking oil thefts in Esopus amid ‘widespread investigation’ into similar incidents in the area
