Fort Washington Division VII Citizens Advisory Council: November 2022

Catalytic Converter Thefts Up More Than 600% in DC Area in Recent Years (News4)

Price of precious metals in targeted auto part on the rise

By Susan Hogan, Rick Yarborough, Steve Jones and Jeff Pipe, Published November 7, 2022

Liz Weir was sound asleep in her Bethesda home when something woke her.

"I heard a noise and thought, That doesn't sound right," she told the News4 I-Team.

It was just after 3 a.m.

"It was a really loud, screeching sound, and I thought someone was dragging something out of the carport," she said.

Security cameras on her house caught the crime in action. Two men pulled up, lifted her car with a jack and sawed off the catalytic converter in just seconds.

"They pulled up at 3:13, and by 3:15 they were pulling away,” Weir said. “It took them two minutes. I mean, and it was so fast.”

Last week, the Justice Department announced a national takedown of a criminal enterprise that made hundreds of millions of dollars from stolen catalytic converters, the car parts that have become targets for theft across the country.

The News4 I-Team analyzed theft data from some of the largest counties in Maryland and Virginia and found catalytic converter thefts have jumped at least 624%. In 2019 there were less than 200 thefts reported in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Prince William counties in Virginia. That number jumped to 1,325 last year.

"It's happening nonstop right now," said Montgomery County Det. Matt Vendemio.

His county has seen a steady rise in these thefts with this year already surpassing 2021.

"They're targeting hybrids right now. However, they are stealing from regular cars as well," he said.

And the I-Team found it's impacting almost every part of the area, with hotspots in Gaithersburg, Rockville, Beltsville, Falls Church and Woodbridge.

However, Silver Spring had the most reported thefts, in the data the I-Team received, with almost 500 since 2019.

Andy Cohen, who runs a Maryland recycling facility, knows the value of a catalytic converter.

"People do call me all the time and say, 'Hey, would you like to buy our converters from us?'" he told the I-Team.

The crime is so rampant now he won't even leave a towed vehicle outside his business.

"If they drop outside, by the time I get here in the morning, the converters will be gone," he said.

Cohen showed the I-Team just how quickly that can happen. It took him less than a minute, 37 seconds, to remove a catalytic converter.

He explained it's what is inside the piece that's so alluring to thieves.

"In the past three years, the prices of the precious metals have gone up, which in turn has created the theft of the converters because that's what's in them," Cohen said.

Precious metals inside, including platinum, palladium and rhodium, often sold on the black market or to unscrupulous scrap yards willing to pay, which then sell to manufactures that need the material for new vehicles.

"The material in a stolen converter will end up in a new converter in a new car, because it's just a recycling process," explained Cohen.

And the I-Team found some models are even more precious to thieves, including the Prius, which the I-Team found targeted repeatedly in the D.C. area.

"Because they have the most precious metals in the converters,” Cohen said. “So, they have the most rhodium, which sells for about $1,000 an ounce."

PGPD Division 7 Commander Major Mitchell warned at the November 9, 2022 South County Community Roundtable (SCCR) that Ford F-150 trucks are a target of thieves and that they operate day and night.