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.