irishone
Join Date: March 2008
Posts: 511
|
RE: Copper Thieves
We have problems with catalytic converters being stolen from cars in LA County. They are targeting specific cars for these thefts. 80's and 90's Toyota Pickup trucks and apparently it is very easy to remove these converters in just a couple of minutes.
Maryland, has problems as well. Look at the tools of the trade.The Maryland Transit Administration is cracking down on a ring of catalytic converter thefts affecting Greater Baltimore.
MTA police officers recently arrested two suspects at the Owings Mills Metro subway station in possession of a battery-operated saw used to cut out a catalytic converter from an automobile. Transit police say a "ring" of catalytic converter thieves has hit Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties, as well as Baltimore City, over the past month.
A search of one of the suspect's homes turned up extra batteries, a drill set, bolt cutters and a pry bar -- "tools of the theft trade," police said. A subpoena was subsequently issued for the records of a scrap yard, where authorities say the catalytic converters can be sold for $20 to $100, depending on the type of car involved.
The catalytic converter is part of an automobile's exhaust system, designed to reduce gasoline emissions. The converters contain platinum, a precious metal that may serve as a motive in thefts.
The investigation is ongoing, MTA officials said.
The MTA is using statistics and computer mapping techniques to determine crime patterns and trends, Lt. Col. John Gavrilis, MTA's deputy chief of police, said in a statement.
"This kind of police work is an example of the behind-the-scenes planning and coordination that helps to safeguard our MTA passengers and the general public," Gavrilis said.
Enlarge By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY
John Ayvazian, owner of The Muffler Shop in Chatsworth, Calif., holds up a catalytic converter removed from a car.
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Police officers are seeing an explosive increase in the theft of catalytic converters, the anti-smog devices on motor vehicles that contain valuable metals.
"We've got reports from agents all over the country, really from Maine to San Diego," says Frank Scafidi, a former FBI agent with the National Insurance Crime Bureau in Des Plaines, Ill. "It seems we are seeing it with more frequency in recent months."
Catalytic converters are required on most SUVs, trucks and automobiles. Small amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium are used in a thin coating on composite materials inside the converter. When hot exhaust gases pass through from the engine, the metals convert harmful gases — carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned hydrocarbons — into safer ones.
Thieves unbolt or cut the metal devices from the exhaust systems of parked vehicles and sell them to scrap metal recyclers.
The devices can bring as much as $100-$150 at scrap yards. Victims can face bills of $1,000 or more to replace the converters.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: New York | London | Illinois | San Diego | Southern California | Christmas | Maine | Orange County | Irvine | San Fernando Valley | Danny | Los Angeles Police Department | South Los Angeles | Jim Amormino | Des Plaines | Lexus SUV | National Insurance Crime Bureau | Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries
"These guys can do 10 cars in one day, and that's a pretty good profit," says John Ayvazian, owner of The Muffler Shop in the San Fernando Valley. "It's crazy."
Ayvazian says he has heard from dozens of victims. "Many were unaware they're a victim of crime and puzzling why their vehicle suddenly sounds so loud," he says. If the device is missing, a car or truck's exhaust spills directly out of the engine manifold through the open pipe where the converter was once attached under the vehicle, ahead of the muffler.
The rash of catalytic converter thefts mirrors an epidemic of copper thefts. Thieves have targeted utilities, construction sites, farms, churches and even homeowners whose air conditioning units have copper coils. A survey last year by the U.S. Department of Energy found that copper thefts cost utilities nearly $1 billion over a one-year period.
In Southern California, there has been a spate of reports and arrests involving converter thefts since late last year. In suburban Orange County south of Los Angeles, at least 558 catalytic converter thefts were reported in 2007, many of them in December, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino says. Irvine, a city consistently ranked with one of the lowest crime rates in the nation, had 59 catalytic converter thefts last year, Police Lt. Rick Handfield says. Seven were reported in the week after Christmas.
Detective Jeff Godown, who heads the Los Angeles Police Department's crime-tracking unit, says the crime has gone from "zero" a year ago to a major problem police agencies are trying to get a handle on.
"It's such a large problem, and widespread, that we're trying to come up with some ideas how we can address this," Anaheim police Sgt. Rich Martinez says.
John Abounader, executive director of the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators in New York, says there are no reliable statistics on the crime, but it is a widespread problem.
"We're having them all over the country," he says. "The problem lies in unscrupulous salvage yards."
The price of an ounce of platinum was $1,562 on London's benchmark market Jan. 11. That is up $100 from a month earlier and more than $400 over the price a year ago. The price of rhodium exceeded $7,000; in early 2004, it was selling for more than $500.
"Typically, we see an upsurge in metal theft when the prices of underlying commodities are going up," says Bryan McGannon, spokesman for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.
He says only a few recyclers in the nation are equipped to open the devices and use heat to extract the metals, so converters typically change hands several times. He says the organization has issued alerts and guidelines to recycling companies to detect goods that might be stolen.
The devices don't have serial numbers and once stolen are virtually impossible to track or distinguish from legitimately obtained scrap, he says.
Thieves seem to have no trouble finding buyers. An ad has been running on the Los Angeles-area Craigslist website this month offering "up to $100 cash" for factory catalytic converters from specific import brands.
Police say thieves often target Toyota SUVs and trucks. Handfield says Toyota 4Runners have been most frequently hit in Irvine. The big vehicles have higher ground clearance and afford easier access to the exhaust system, he says.
Richard Ramos, who repairs exhausts at Danny's Muffler Shop in South Los Angeles, says he sees victims several times a week, mostly with imports. Owners with auto insurance covering theft often still face deductibles that require them to pay $500 or more of the cost of fixing their exhausts.
Handfield says a tightening economy may be spurring the spike in metal thefts. He says Irvine police recently arrested a man stealing metals from construction sites. He was a mortgage banker using his luxury Lexus SUV to haul the loot, Handfield says.
"For all crime, it's opportunity vs. risk, value vs. risk," he says. "In this case, because (catalytic converters) are relatively easy to unbolt, the risk is low."
|