WICHITA, Kansas, May 13, 2008 – It’s no secret that everyone is feeling the pinch when it comes to prices at the pump, but can the cost of gas really fuel an increase in crime? One local business owner thinks so.

Barrels of used cooking oil outside a Wichita restaurant may seem worthless to many people, but for a business in Sedgwick, the grease couldn’t be more valuable.

Ben Healy co-owns Healy Bio-Diesel. He pays restaurants throughout Wichita for their grease, takes it back to his shop in Sedgwick and converts it into boo-diesel; an alternative fuel that he says is cheaper and more efficient than regular diesel.

But for the last several weeks, Healy says thieves have been dipping into his grease barrels.

“It is a hot commodity, with fuel prices higher, the fact that you can make diesel out of grease, it's a valuable item, people are stealing it,” said Healy.

He’s contacted police, but at this point they can’t really be of much help.

"Well this is first case that we've come across anybody reporting having grease taken,” said Lt. Joe Cutcliff with the Wichita Police Department.

Healy estimates he’s lost thousands of gallons of grease and while the thieves may be greasing their palms, he says he’s losing tens of thousands of dollars in potential revenue.

Healy says although it's his business the thieves are hurting, he's very worried that soon they'll also be impacting many mom and pop businesses that rely so heavily on his bio-diesel.

If he keeps losing cooking oil, Healy can’t keep up with the bio-diesel demand, which could mean that instead of paying his price, the mom and pop locations would have to dish out an additional 80 cents per gallon for regular diesel at the larger gas stations.