A federal grand jury in Des Moines has authorized charges against four Chinese nationals for allegedly stealing used cooking oil.
The four from Des Moines are among 13 people charged with conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering. The charges alleged the 13 drove trucks to restaurants in Iowa, Tennessee, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, Alabama, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kentucky to illegally take used cooking oil from collection tanks. They then sold the oil to be used to make biodiesel fuel and allegedly laundered the proceeds to hide the money.
The four people from Des Moines made an initial court appearance and a trial date was set was set for February 2nd. The four are 48-year-old Xian Quan Guo; Jianfa Huang; 36-year-old Futao Wang, and 34-year-old Xiangjing Wang.