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Copper, catalytic converters and cooking oil continue to be items of choice for thieves looking to make a quick – and illegal – buck.
It was around 7 a.m. when Wayne Police Officer William Hall stopped a van for multiple violations and smelled grease, Detective Capt. Dan Daly said.
Both occupants were covered in oil and wore rubber gloves with a “visible sheen,” the captain said.
Backup Officers Dennis Sagvay and Nicole Mott joined Hall, who learned that one of the men, Tysheem Goode, 30, of Newark was wanted by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office for the theft of used cooking oil.
Used cooking oil, which is legally collected and turned into biodiesel, has come to be known as “liquid gold,” especially when gas prices are high.
Thieves will always find buyers for the spent, reusable oil, which they can flip for up to thousands of dollars. It’s better than selling drugs, some law enforcement officials have said.
The last extended stretch of cooking oil thefts occurred from 2014 through 2017, when skyrocketing oil prices made it the new copper for petty thieves.
Goode copped to the theft and was taken into custody, along with Rasheed Wright, 33, of Plainfield, Daly said.
Wright then began “kicking the interior of the door violently, causing substantial damage,” the captain said. He also spat and urinated in the vehicle, Daly said.
Sgt. Corey Stevens, who also responded, told Wright at headquarters that police would have to shackle his legs because of his violent behavior.
Wright resisted and had to be subdued, Daly said. Once shackled, he refused to walk and had to be carried, the captain added.
Wright also threatened to kill Hall, he said.
Goode was charged with receiving stolen property and turned over to Morris County prosecutor’s detectives.
Wright, meanwhile, was charged with resisting arrest, making terroristic threats, obstruction, criminal mischief and receiving stolen property.
He was sent to the Bergen County Jail only to have a judge release him the following day, with conditions, under New Jersey’s bail reform law.
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