Four Men Indicted For Selling Stolen Cooking Oil To Tulsa Recycler

Federal prosecutors say four Missouri men ran a scheme to sell stolen cooking oil to a recycling center in Tulsa.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Springfield said the men stole more than $5.6 million worth of cooking oil from restaurants in five states including Kansas and Oklahoma.

The defendants are 58-year-old Jeffery Fleming, of Joplin; his 48-year-old brother, Brian Fleming, of Mountain Grove; and two of their employees, 51-year-old Virgil Bird Jr. and 28-year-old Neal Robbins, both of Joplin. 

According to prosecutors, each of the Fleming brothers owns a recycling company. Prosecutors say each of the four men faces a 12-count indictment including conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property.

Court documents say the men stole large quantities of used cooking oil from restaurants in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Iowa. They then sold the oil to a recycling business in Tulsa.

The documents also say the recycling business in Tulsa sent a tanker truck to Fleming Recycling almost every day to collect used oil between November 2010 and September 2011.