13 Accused of Stealing Cooking Oil in Missouri Using Trucks

I've heard of people trying to steal just about everything, but this is a new one. There are 13 who have been accused of stealing cooking oil using used trucks and Missouri is one of the locations where these alleged thefts took place.

I saw this unusual case mentioned first by CDL Life which is a trucking industry site. They pointed to a bulletin from the United States Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Iowa that explained how 13 individuals are accused of interstate transportation of stolen cooking oil. It says that restaurants in Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kentucky had cooking oil collection tanks robbed. The alleged culprits then transported the cooking oil in used trucks for resale elsewhere which included storehouses in Iowa, Ohio, Tennessee and Alabama. Here are the accused according to the US Attorney's Office in Iowa:

Tianzhu Chen, 33, of Flushing, New York, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, two counts of interstate transportation of stolen property, and two counts of money laundering.

Jingliu Chen, 55, of Flushing, New York, is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.

Yong Chen, 32, of Brooklyn, New York, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, and two counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.

• Xian Quan Guo, 48, of Des Moines, Iowa, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
• Jianfa Huang, 40, of Des Moines, Iowa, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
• Fukang Wang, 37, of Staten Island, New York, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
• Futao Wang, 36, of Des Moines, Iowa, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, and interstate transportation of stolen property.
• Jie Wang, 30, of Dayton, Ohio, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
• Xiangjing Wang, 34, of Des Moines, Iowa, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate, and two counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.
• Danrong Zhang, 38, of Flushing, New York, is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate and money laundering.
• Changxu Zou, 41, of Tulia, Texas, is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
• Changyu Zou, 38, of Edmond, Oklahoma, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate.
• Wenrong Zou, 32, of Edmond, Oklahoma, is charged with conspiracy to transport stolen property interstate