Stockpile of ‘several hundred’ stolen catalytic converters found in Texas, cops say

Police found a stockpile of “several hundred” stolen catalytic converters in the back of a box truck in northeast Houston on Wednesday night.

Officers were in the area responding to a theft call when they located the truck and two suspects, Houston police said.

The two men, Nesean Dorrell Robinson, 30, and Ibrahima Basse, 41, were taken into custody, police said. Robinson is charged with felon in possession of a weapon and Basse is accused of unlawful carrying of a weapon, police posted on Twitter.

Inside the truck, which was parked at a vehicle salvage lot, were 300 to 400 catalytic converters, police told the TV station.

Catalytic converters are part of a vehicle’s exhaust system, affixed between the engine and muffler, that turns harmful pollutants into safer gases.

The exposed hunk of metal might not look like much, but they can fetch a decent enough price that thieves around the country are sliding under people’s cars and sawing off converters at a rate that hasn’t been seen in years, experts say.

A skilled thief with the right tools can discreetly remove a catalytic converter in just two minutes, experts say, leaving the victim with a repair and replacement job that could cost thousands.

Catalytic converter theft has been on the rise nationally, climbing from an average of 108 thefts per month in 2018, to 282 in 2019, then 1,203 each month in 2020, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

In Houston alone, police told KTRK they received nearly 1,800 reports of stolen catalytic converters in 2020. By June 2021, however, the number of reports was over 2,200.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen a drastic increase in auto crimes to include a rise in catalytic converter thefts, and Texas continues to be at the top of the list,” said David Glawe, NICB president.

The other states hardest hit by the thefts are California, Minnesota, North Carolina and Illinois, according to NICB data.

There’s precious metal in catalytic converters: platinum, palladium, rhodium.

An ounce of rhodium was going for $14,500 in December, the NICB said. Palladium? $2,336 an ounce. Platinum? $1,061.

Prices for all three have been skyrocketing, largely because of shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, NPR reported.

That said, there’s not much of these metals in a typical converter, the outlet reported, maybe just a few hundred dollars worth.

It’s still enough to make a tempting target. According to the NICB, a thief can sell a single catalytic converter for as much as $250.

By that math, if the truck Houston police seized Wednesday night had at least 300 converters in it, the two suspects could have made around $75,000 total.

To help prevent your catalytic converter from being stolen, experts recommend engraving your VIN number on it, which would make it harder for a thief to sell to a reputable scrap dealer.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Stockpile of ‘several hundred’ stolen catalytic converters found in Texas, cops say."