Soap opera actor claims arrest was trumped up by competitor

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TOWN OF ULSTER – The arrest of former soap opera actor Forbes March and another man on grand larceny charges for taking used cooking oil from a diner on Ulster Avenue is possibly the result of a ploy by a business competitor seeking to blow the matter out of proportion, according to March’s attorney, Jared Hart.  March and the other man were arrested after removing used cooking oil from storage containers in the rear of Michael’s Diner at 1071 Ulster Avenue in Ulster.

Forbes March, 49, of Jeffersonville, and Oscar Guardado, 30, of Liberty, were arrested following the incident at 10:12 p.m. on March 2.

According to the attorney, Mr. March had purchased an existing used oil collection route from a known business listing service in February to supplement his existing businesses that provide goods and services, including firewood, to restaurants.  Already delivering products to restaurants, March had the infrastructure in place to begin picking up the used cooking oil as part of the biodiesel market that turns used cooking oil into fuel.  The route, according to Mr. Hart, included Michael’s Diner as part of the collection route.

Part of the collection process, the attorney told Mid-Hudson News, involves placing specific containers at restaurants for the oil to be stored and then picked up. “Containers had been present at Michael’s Diner for months preceding the purchase of the route by Forbes,” Hart contends, adding “The manager of Michael’s Diner has confirmed that his diner was in fact a customer of the business.”
Prior to Forbes purchasing the oil collection route, Hart claims, a company known as Buffalo Biodiesel had also placed an oil collection container at the diner and apparently” had not serviced this restaurant in over six months,” Hart said, noting that the company that had the route sold to March, was collecting the used oil on a regular basis.
 When March first visited the diner, the lawyer says that several oil containers were on the site, and March assumed that all of them belonged to his route.  “The containers were poorly marked and seemingly abandoned but oil had been stored in them,” the attorney said.  Mr. Hart, in an email to Mid-Hudson News says “The owner confirmed with Forbes that day March 2, 2023) that the oil was there for him to collect.” The attorney contends that all of the containers at the diner were properly stored, except for one, and ready for collection.  “While not readily apparent to Forbes that day due to the poor markings, one of the containers in fact allegedly belonged to Buffalo Biodiesel,” Hart said, alleging that the other company’s tank contained approximately 90 gallons of oil, which was a mere portion of the oil collected by Mr. March that evening.
Mr. Hart argues that the Buffalo Biodiesel container had approximately 90 gallons of a mixture of used oil and dirty rainwater which would have to be separated before processing.  The grand larceny charge, Hart explained, is because the Buffalo Biodiesel tank that was taken by mistake has an estimated value of more than $1,000.  “There was never an intent to steal nor permanently deprive another company of their alleged cooking oil, Hart said in defense of Mr. March.  Hart says that his client offered to immediately pump the oil, possibly worth $300 according to the defendant, back where it was.  The oil and water mixture is currently being held as evidence by the Town of Ulster Police.
“The facts and circumstances are extremely overblown, and this is nothing more than a civil matter trumped up to be made to look criminal because a competitor in the biodiesel market failed in their obligations to service their customer,” contends the defense attorney.

 




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