Feds Bust Multimillion-Dollar Catalytic Converter Theft Ring
Authorities, executing more than 32 search warrants and seizing millions of dollars in homes, bank accounts, cash and luxury vehicles, have charged 21 defendants from five states..
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Federal, local and state authorities recently carried out arrests, searches and seizures in California, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia in a bust of a network of thieves, dealers and processors involved in catalytic converter thefts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, reports Joe Barrett for the Wall Street Journal.
Authorities, executing more than 32 search warrants and seizing millions of dollars in homes, bank accounts, cash and luxury vehicles, have charged 21 defendants from five states in indictments in the Eastern District of California and the Northern District of Oklahoma. In the California case, nine defendants were charged with conspiracy to transport stolen catalytic converters, conspiracy to commit money laundering and other charges after netting $38 million by collecting converters from local thieves and shipping them to a New Jersey firm that broke down the devices into metal powders. In the Oklahoma case, officials charged 13 defendants, some of whom sold stolen converters to the same New Jersey firm for $64.5 million.
