By Kris Bevill Web exclusive posted Oct. 15, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. CST

A recent grease theft arrest in northern California has resulted in a police sergeant being put on paid administrative leave as he awaits a court hearing for allegedly stealing $350 worth of used cooking oil from a local restaurant.

Sacramento Rendering Co. held the contract for pick-up of grease from that location and reported the theft. Sacramento Rendering President Michael Koewler said in March he began noticing thefts had occurred at his company’s pick-up sites. He contacted local police in June and they began an investigation that ended Sept. 30 with the arrest of Folsom, Calif., Police Sergeant John Landahl on misdemeanor theft charges. He was released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 17 to face charges of the theft and illegal transportation of used cooking oil.

Reports of grease thefts have been on the rise across the country in the past year. Prices for waste oil have gone up as a result of increased demand for the product as a feedstock for biodiesel production. Koewler said although the biodiesel industry has caused increased demand for the product, rogue biodiesel producers are not to blame for grease thefts. Rather, according to Koewler, the periodic rise in price of grease is to blame for the increased number of thefts. "Even before biodiesel was the craze, we had a number of thefts,” he said.