Stolen Plastic Lead to Arrest of California Recycler

The owner of two Los Angeles recycling firms has been arrested after $250,000 worth of stolen plastic products was found.

The sheriff’s Industrial Plastic Theft Task Force arrested 43-year-old Juan Arrelano and two employees on Monday. The names of the employees haven’t been released.

Task force Sgt. Nabeel Mitry says the stolen items, mostly plastic pallets, trays, shelves, baskets and totes from stores and restaurants, were found during professions code compliance checks.

The items are usually stolen from loading docks.

The sergeant says some of the trademarked plastic products were intact, but some were cut into pieces or ground up for resale.

More than $5 million in stolen trademark plastic products have been recovered by the task for in the past four months.