Pair accused of stealing cooking oil from Suffolk restaurants
Suffolk County police arrested and charged two men in connection with the theft of cooking oil from more than a dozen restaurants since April.
Police responded to a 911 call about 6:13 a.m. Tuesday at the Mama Lisa Restaurant in Mastic after the pair were seen stealing cooking oil before driving off in a white Ford van, the release said.
About 10 minutes later, officers located the two behind Gourmet Garden, a restaurant in Center Moriches, police said.
The two suspects, Oliver Lorenzo Valdez, 30, of Central Islip, and Juan Hernandez, 28, of Brentwood, have allegedly stolen cooking oil from 13 restaurants and a shopping mall since April, according to police.
Police did not reveal the intended use of the cooking oil. In previous thefts on Long Island, the oil is typically refined and resold at discounted rates. Police also did not immediately say what led officers to find the suspects behind the Center Moriches establishment.
Hernandez and Valdez both were charged with 14 counts of petit larceny, two counts of criminal mischief and one count of sixth-degree conspiracy. Both were being held overnight at the Sixth Precinct in Selden and are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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