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PD: Rochelle Park Officer Nabs Cooking-Grease Thief Behind Route 17 Steakhouse

A grease bandit who was caught red-handed behind a Route 17 restaurant is suspected in a series of similar thefts that have saturated the area.

Rashan Nix was arrested after police looked inside the van behind the LongHorn Steakhouse on northbound Route 17 in Rochelle Park and found large plastic bladders full of used cooking oil, authorities said.

Rashan Nix was arrested after police looked inside the van behind the LongHorn Steakhouse on northbound Route 17 in Rochelle Park and found large plastic bladders full of used cooking oil, authorities said.

 Photo Credit: MUGSHOT: BCJ / BACKGROUND: RPPD
Inside the van found behind the LongHorn Steakhouse on northbound Route 17 in Rochelle Park were large plastic bladders full of used cooking oil, authorities said.

Inside the van found behind the LongHorn Steakhouse on northbound Route 17 in Rochelle Park were large plastic bladders full of used cooking oil, authorities said.

 Photo Credit: RPPD
Jerry DeMarco

Rashan Nix, 44, of Newark, has an extensive criminal history in several New Jersey counties and Pennsylvania and has joined the growing number of cooking oil thieves, investigators say.

Rochelle Park Police Officer Chris Kiszka was on patrol around 1 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28, when he spotted an unmarked Ford van with expired temporary plates parked behind the LongHorn Steakhouse on northbound Route 17 near the Maywood border, Lt. James M. DePreta said.

Inside were large plastic bladders full of used cooking oil, the lieutenant said.

Officer Jorge Orihueal and Detective Brian Gallina assisted Kiszka in arrested Nix and impounding the van, he said.

Police charged Nix with theft, burglary, receiving stolen property, obstruction and criminal trespassing and sent him to the Bergen County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

“Detectives are actively tying him to other area thefts of cooking oil,” DePreta said.

That wasn't enough for the judge, who released Nix just hours later under New Jersey's bail reform law.

Vehicle theft clearly isn’t the only property crime exploding in North Jersey (continued below).

Some thieves steal copper wire for black-market sale, ordinarily for drug money. Others hit no-questions-asked pawn shops after swiping jewelry or electronics.

For others, grease is the word.

What makes it so valuable?

Biodiesel.

Each year, an estimated billion and a half pounds of used oil is rendered into renewable fuel -- in the process releasing about 85% fewer carbon emissions than its petroleum-based predecessor.

It provides an attractive, low-risk hustle for thieves who annually swipe $75 million worth of used grease, on average, for sale on the black market, authorities say.

And that’s not small potatoes.

The local black market fluctuates but is currently paying around $7 a pound for grease. A gallon weighs about eight pounds.

All told, it comes to millions of dollars a year.

Bail reform keeps authorities from holding onto the thieves, who they say go straight back to work after being released.

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