Man caught allegedly stealing cooking grease in Fairfax County, police say

ANNANDALE, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - Fairfax County Police say they have been dealing with a series of cooking grease thefts in Annandale.

"Why on earth would anybody steal cooking grease? I can't imagine what anybody would ever need that for," said Kaitlin Ballentine.

In a story first posted by the Washington Post, police say they arrested Alvaro Mendez Florez for backing a truck up to a vat of used cooking grease and siphoning it out. He was caught by an officer patrolling the area, and according to police, this is not all that uncommon.

Investigators say they've taken six reports of cooking grease thefts in the past year, and they actually think there are many more thefts that go unreported.

Here's why -- apparently cooking grease can be turned into fuel, and right now, because the price of biodiesel has increased, police say cooking grease is actually a pretty valuable commodity.

Now, you might be wondering how much money you can make selling cooking grease. According to an expert who talked to the Post, you're talking about potentially thousands of dollars per night depending on how much grease you've got.