Owner Of Waste Collection Business Pleads Guilty To Transporting Stolen Waste Vegetable Oil

Baltimore, Maryland – Ahmad Qaabid Abdul Rahim, age 37, of College Park, Maryland pleaded guilty today to transportation of stolen property in connecting with a scheme to steal waste vegetable oil.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to the plea agreement, waste collection businesses contract with local restaurants to collect waste vegetable oil (WVO), which is used to make bio-diesel fuel or processed as an additive for animal feed. Waste collection businesses places recycling containers behind the restaurants with which they have contracts. When the containers are full, the businesses collect the WVO using a vacuum truck.

Rahim admits that from May through October 2010, he and a friend stole WVO from restaurants in Maryland and Virginia and sold it to out-of-state oil companies. Rahim used a flatbed tow truck that he owned, along with a tank and mechanical pump to collect the WVO, which he stored at a warehouse in Baltimore County. At the end of October, Rahim developed a legitimate WVO collection company, which he called “Waste Not, Incorporated.” Rahim purchased a vacuum truck, hired salesmen to assist him, and eventually obtained 650 contracts to collect WVO from restaurants and other eateries. From June through October, 2011, Rahim personally drove the vacuum truck to each location and collected the WVO.

According to his plea agreement, in October 2011, Rahim and a driver that he hired began to use the vacuum truck to steal WVO from restaurants for which Waste Not did not have a collection contract, in addition to collecting the WVO from its legitimate customers. To disguise the thefts, Rahim altered Waste Not’s master contract list and the driver’s manifest to include the restaurant locations from which he was stealing WVO. Rahim took both his legitimate WVO and the stolen WVO to a collection facility located at 1701 Leland Avenue in Middle River, run by Rahim’s friend. Rahim’s friend then sold the WVO to fuel companies in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

From January 18, 2012 through September 20, 2012, Waste Not received approximately $98,887, for the sale of 94,178 gallons of stolen WVO.
Rahim faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in for transportation of stolen goods. U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz has scheduled sentencing for December 3, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory R. Bockin, who is prosecuting the case.