What looked like a few sketchy late-night siphoning jobs in Soulard is now being cast as a full-blown, multi-state grease racket. Federal prosecutors say a run of used cooking oil thefts was actually part of a million-dollar scheme to traffic stolen fryer grease. An indictment names 72-year-old Harry Stephen Steele and several alleged suppliers, tracing pilfered oil from a downtown bar all the way to a septic business in southwest Missouri. Investigators say the crew used forged paperwork to wash the grease into the renewable-fuel market.
According to St. Louis Magazine, federal filings say Steele, who runs Steele Excavation and Septic Service, started buying stolen grease in September 2022. Prosecutors say he urged suppliers to falsify traceability documents so the oil could be sold to an unnamed buyer in Minnesota. The indictment lists roughly 10 payments from that buyer to Steele’s accounts, totaling about $1.3 million. Steele now faces 16 counts, including interstate transportation of stolen property, wire fraud, money laundering and alleged violations of the Clean Air Act.
National Pattern And The Renewable-Fuel Market
Prosecutors and industry insiders say the St. Louis case fits into a growing national pattern in which organized grease rings quietly move used cooking oil into the biofuels supply chain. Similar conspiracies have been chronicled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of New York. Under the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard, waste oils can generate renewable-fuel credits that suddenly make so-called "yellow grease" worth real money. The agency’s overview explains how those RIN credits work and why used fryer oil has become a tradable commodity (EPA).
Local Thefts, Undercover Buys And Seizure Moves
In the St. Louis area, court papers say Ronald Braden allegedly siphoned thousands of pounds of grease from John D. McGurk’s over three nights in April and May 2025, then sold much of it to Steele. Prosecutors say Steele moved that oil into what appeared to be legitimate channels. The indictment also alleges that Blake Neptune made about 25 sales to Steele, bringing in roughly $112,000. In one sting operation, an undercover officer sold Steele’s company a truckload of supposedly stolen oil for $579. Prosecutors are now seeking to seize Steele’s Greene County property as they try to claw back what they describe as illicit proceeds, according to St. Louis Magazine.
What’s Next For The Case And For Restaurants
Steele and the other defendants now head deeper into the federal court system. Interstate transportation of stolen property under 18 U.S.C. § 2314, along with the wire fraud, money-laundering and environmental counts, can carry substantial prison time and serious fines. In similar cooking-oil prosecutions, courts have handed down years-long sentences and large restitution orders (U.S. Attorney, EDNC).
All of this has restaurants looking twice at what sits in those outdoor tanks behind the kitchen door. Industry groups and grease collectors urge businesses to install tamper-resistant locks, insist on clearly brand-marked pickup trucks, keep detailed pickup records and improve lighting and camera coverage around waste-oil areas. For practical, boots-on-the-ground prevention tips, collectors like Baker Commodities offer specific guidance aimed at keeping thieves away from the fryer leftovers.
