ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Major crime busts against catalytic converter thieves are making an impact. It’s not the only reason we’re seeing a drop in expensive and annoying car crimes.
At many salvage yards, the first action employees often take is to cut off the catalytic converters so criminals don’t get them. However, it’s not the exterior shell that you can see that attracts thieves; rather, it’s the precious metals inside that recently sold for tens of thousands of dollars an ounce.
An evidence room inside the Maryland Heights Police Department contains nearly 40 catalytic converters recently seized in a big case led by police detective Shaun Terry.
Det. Terry told us, “When we arrest the guy stealing the converters, which helps out a little bit, there’s another person to fill his spot. So, I took a different approach.”
His department followed the trail of suspects to a South St. Louis County apartment complex. Detectives walked into an apartment on the third floor, in which the living room was filled with stolen catalytic converters.
Det. Terry said, “Our officers were kind of awestruck; these were just sitting in plain sight, wide open for anybody that comes into the apartment to view.”
Thieves had recently struck postal trucks on Congressional Drive as well as trucks outside a bakery right next to the police department. The suspects were confident because Maryland Heights detectives learned they worked in groups, protected by a lookout.
“He would be on the phone with them in real time, providing surveillance while they would steal the cats, saying nobody’s around. Go ahead, this is your time,” Det. Terry explained.
The cost to businesses is extraordinary. In a string of unsolved cases, K & B Truck Repair in Granite City was hit three times in the past couple years, to the tune of $150,000 in reported damages.
At salvage yards, like one we visited that did not want to be identified, the first thing employees do is cut off the converter. We watched as an employee cut one off in seconds—even with a cheap saw blade.
A company rep said, “I cut the converter off right away because once I put it in my yard, people come in and steal it.”
It’s not what you see that’s in such demand; rather, it’s what’s inside the converter. A yard rep cut one open so we could see the trace amounts of precious metals—platinum, palladium and rhodium.
He said rhodium is the most expensive metal, with a reported market value of $29,800 an ounce in 2022. That price is now down to $4,200 an ounce as of this week.
Tiny amounts are contained in screens inside the converters. The yard rep who cut one off for us explained what it means for the salvage cost of a cut part as he said, “Back in the day, probably 2022, this converter went for $300. Now it is worth $50 or $60. The value of the metals has gone down tremendously, probably about 80%.”
The yard told me it screens people who try to sell converters, but a now-closed scrapyard in East Alton allegedly didn’t. Illinois regulators shut down Summit Processors last year and an employee pleaded guilty to buying stolen catalytic converters.
The Maryland Heights Police cases went federal, leading to two separate convictions; the latest landed Allen Tikvesa a five-year probation sentence this past December after a guilty plea for conspiracy.
Both were Detective Terry’s cases, which took more time than just arresting the bottom guy. He explained, “The wait is worth the reward. The juice is worth the squeeze so to speak. You can see how big this is as it develops and it’s worth pursuing.”