LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville company serves thousands of restaurants across the area, hauling away used cooking oil and recycling it into animal feed and biodiesel fuel.
But for months, people have stolen their liquid gold.
In February, two men were charged with stealing used cooking oil from eight Louisville restaurants: La Bodeguita, Biscuit Belly, Feast, El Nopal, Fish House, Joy Luck, Taco City and The Eagle.
Yunior Chaveco Gonzales and Diuslan Nicolas Dieguez Leyva were arrested and charged in February 2025 for stealing used cooking oil from eight Louisville restaurants. (Photos courtesy of LMDC)
And after weeks of grease trap thefts at Bambi Bar on Bardstown Road in Louisville, Louisville Metro Police officers arrested Digzan Saavedra Pratts earlier this week. According to court documents, police said he cut the container's lock and used a hose to suck up the oil. He's charged with theft by unlawful taking and criminal trespassing.
However, the bar's surveillance video shows it was a two-man job.
"This is an organized crime," said Jennifer McIntyre, office manager at VOCARS. "There's so many of them that once you catch one, there's three others out there."
VOCARS collects used cooking oil from about 3,000 restaurants across Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. But McIntyre said theft is cutting into their supply.
Digzan Saavedra Pratts (Photo courtesy of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections)
"We have probably lost about 10,000-15,000 gallons of oil each month," she said Thursday. "That's almost $500,000 a year that we've lost in revenue from this."
Cooking oil has become a hot commodity. After collection, it's filtered, heated and refined for use in biofuels and animal feed, and restaurants are paid for it. Surveillance video frequently shows thieves pulling up with homemade trash pumps and hoses, draining tanks into portable containers that can hold up to 55 to 550 gallons.
At $4.35 a gallon, the money adds up quickly for thieves. However, Ford said justice comes slower.
"They just basically slap them on the wrist with a fine or a fee, and they're back out on the streets the next day doing it all over again," McIntyre said.
If you have any information that could help police, you can call LMPD's anonymous Crime Tip Line at 502-574-LMPD (5673) or submit an anonymous tip on the Crime Tip Portal by clicking here.
Copyright 2026 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
