Catalytic converter theft: 400 stolen catalytic converters worth $400,000 seized from San Bernardino home abc7.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc7.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Deputies in the Santa Clarita Valley recently arrested 19 suspects and recovered 250 stolen catalytic converters, worth $750,000. Here's what you can do to prevent yours from being stolen.
So why are these a target for thieves? They want what s inside. They re filled with precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium. I believe they melt them down and separate the metals and sell them because they re worth more than gold, said David Kilbourne, who runs Foreign Carriage Service in Thousand Oaks.
Capt. Eric Buschow with the Ventura County Sheriffs Office says two-three man crews are going through neighborhoods to crawl under vehicles in the middle of the night to saw off catalytic converters. They can t unbolt or detach, so the thieves have to use power tools to get it.