photo by: Sara Shepherd/Journal-World File Photo

This file photo from March 28, 2019 shows grease bins, where restaurants dispose of used cooking oil, in downtown Lawrence.

After his court hearing for his charge of stealing used restaurant grease, a Springfield, Mo., man allegedly proceeded to repeat the crime.

Byron Parker Aston, 28, was first booked into the Douglas County Jail on Feb. 27, jail records show. He was charged with low-level felony theft for allegedly stealing more than a ton of used cooking grease from bins behind three restaurants on Massachusetts Street.

He came back to town for a preliminary hearing July 19. He pleaded not guilty and was scheduled to go to trial Nov. 6.

Witnesses who were in town to testify at that hearing — investigators for an Irving, Texas-based company called Darling Ingredients Inc., which offers grease recycling services to restaurants through its subsidiary, DAR PRO Solutions — told Lawrence police they suspected Aston might try to steal more grease. So they drove around downtown looking for him that afternoon, according to court documents.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Byron Parker Aston, pictured July 23, 2019

The investigators did indeed see Aston again. And this time, police allege that they found more than just grease in his truck.

The Journal-World requested and recently received the affidavit supporting Aston’s arrest in his second case. Allegations in an affidavit have not been proved in court.

A slick arrangement?

According to the affidavit, Lawrence police were dispatched to an alley behind a restaurant in the 700 block of Massachusetts Street just before 4 p.m. July 19, in reference to two men stealing oil and loading it onto a trailer.

On arrival, the officer wrote, he saw a white pickup with a black trailer attached. Inside the trailer, he noticed a rectangular grease bin which was labeled as belonging to Darling International. He also noticed a cylindrical metal tank, which had an approximately 20-foot-long corrugated hose secured to it.

Aston reportedly told police that he and the restaurant owner had worked out a verbal agreement for him to remove the restaurant’s cooking grease, so he had taken Darling’s bin and replaced it with one of his own.

The restaurant owner told police that she and Aston had talked a few months prior but had not made an official agreement. But when Aston showed up to remove the used cooking grease from the bin that day, she agreed and assumed everything he was doing was legal, according to the affidavit.

In order to make Darling’s bin light enough to lift onto his trailer, Aston said, he had removed the used grease. He also told police he needed to remove Darling’s bin in order to place his own grease collection bin in its place.

One investigator told police he thought Aston had used a pump motor, which would have been necessary to move the grease through the hose from the Darling bin to the tank on the truck bed. He said his view was partially obscured, but he could hear the sound of the pump motor, according to the affidavit.

Aston said he planned to return the bin — and the grease he’d pumped out in order to lift it — to Darling, and to bring any paperwork back to the restaurant owner, but he “never got that far because the police showed up,” according to the affidavit.

In a search of Aston’s truck, police found a 12-gauge high standard shotgun with a sawed-off barrel, loaded with seven shells, and a Rock River Arms rifle with a full magazine holding 20 7.62-caliber rounds, according to the affidavit. The rifle was found to be stolen out of Springfield, Mo.

Police also allegedly found a grinder with less than a gram of marijuana inside, the affidavit says.

When police asked him about the guns, Aston allegedly said he only knew of a BB gun in the truck. When the officer stated “I’m talking about the stolen guns which were in the truck,” Aston replied, “They were both stolen?” according to the affidavit.

Altogether in the second case, Aston is charged with misdemeanor theft, driving while suspended, and a low-level felony count of criminal use of weapons.

Why grease?

Some may find the desirability of used restaurant grease to be questionable at best.

As the Journal-World reported in March, grease theft is a big enough problem that companies like DAR PRO Solutions commonly employ investigative teams. The problem has been likened to theft of scrap metal.

Companies can make money off of converting used grease into biodiesel products through processing plants. Nationwide, 1.4 billion pounds of used cooking oil was turned into biodiesel in one recent year, according to a 2017 Bloomberg report.

In Aston’s first case, investigators calculated that the stolen grease would have been worth 28 cents per pound based on that day’s market value for a total of $569, the Journal-World reported. In the second case, investigators estimated that grease stolen from the Darling bin was worth $146 and the bin itself was valued at $690, according to the affidavit.

Co-defendants

Aston was accompanied by a co-defendant in his first case — Chad A. Johnson, 27, of Springfield, Mo.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Chad A. Johnson

Johnson told the Journal-World in March that he didn’t know anything about grease recycling or where it would be sold — he was “just along for the ride.”

On Monday, Johnson filed an agreement for diversion in the case. A diversion allows a defendant to avoid having a criminal conviction on his record, provided he completes an agreed-upon program.

As part of his diversion, Johnson will have to pay more than $1,400 for appointed attorney fees, restitution and court costs. He must also write a letter of apology to the victim, complete 75 hours of community service work, complete a program for theft offenders and proffer testimony under oath to the Lawrence Police Department regarding his case, Dorothy Kliem, trial assistant for the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, said via email Tuesday.

In his second case, according to court documents, Aston was accompanied by Skyler Hill, 24, also of Springfield, Mo.

Hill on Friday pleaded no contest to misdemeanor theft. He was sentenced to 16 days in jail followed by 12 months of probation, with a 12-month underlying jail sentence should he fail his probation, Kliem said.

photo by: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Skyler Hill

When interviewed by police July 19, Hill said he had met Aston about six months prior, and Aston had offered him $20 to accompany him to Lawrence for his court appearance and to help with the grease bin switch, according to the affidavit. Hill said Aston told him they would drop off a grease bin at a restaurant, then pick up the other business’ bin and drop it off at Darling’s property in Kansas City on the way home.

“He had no knowledge he was doing anything illegal,” the affidavit states.

As part of his probation, Hill is not to have contact with Aston. He must also complete a theft offender program, pay court costs of $158 and write a letter of apology to the victim, Kliem said.

• • •

At a court appearance Tuesday, Dakota Loomis, Aston’s defense attorney, asked the judge to modify Aston’s bond, which is set for $15,000. He said that would allow Aston to get out, work and pay child support for his four children.

The judge declined, and as of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aston remained in the Douglas County Jail, according to online records.

Loomis declined to comment for this article.

Aston is currently scheduled for a jury trial on Nov. 6 in his first case. His next appearance in his second case is set for Aug. 20.