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A car owner who came across thieves who were trying to steal his catalytic converter exchanged gunfire with the suspects in a Miami-Dade neighborhood early Wednesday, police said. The incident unfolded shortly before 5 a.m. at a community in the 8100 block of Northwest 8th Street. Miami-Dade Police Det. Andre Martin said a resident was in his home when he heard power tools in the parking lot. The resident saw two people under his vehicle trying to remove the catalytic converter, so he armed himself and confronted the suspects, Martin said. “When I went out to walk my dog at...

Chicago police arrested two men and recovered over 200 catalytic converters from a building on the city’s West Side on Friday. More details about the allegations against the men will be released when they appear in bond court on Saturday afternoon. Marzel Woodard and Vincent Parks, both 36, are charged with aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Woodard is also charged with organized aggravated vehicle theft conspiracy, police said. Possessing a stolen critical piece of an automobile, such as a catalytic converter, is equivalent to having the entire vehicle under Illinois law. The arrests and recovery, made in the...

A man is dead after he was run over by the driver of a car from which he was allegedly trying steal a catalytic converter in Palmdale.

Boulder Police give away hundreds of catalytic converter anti-theft kits Latest effort to prevent one of the fastest-growing crimes in Colorado By: Brandon RichardOct 22, 2022 BOULDER, Colo. – The Boulder Police Department gave away hundreds of catalytic converter anti-theft kits on Saturday, an effort to address one of the fastest growing crimes in the state of Colorado. Thieves can make thousands of dollars stealing and selling catalytic converters, which contain highly sought-after metals. “They can oftentimes get a couple hundred dollars from those metals and that's just for a couple of minutes work,” said Mitch Trujillo, the community services...

An Arizona man was facing multiple theft charges last week after detectives found more than 1,200 catalytic converters packed into a storage unit, a case that highlights a national surge in thefts of the pricy auto parts that play a critical role in reducing vehicle emissions. The discovery followed a months-long investigation that began with a January tip that someone was storing stolen catalytic converters in an industrial area near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “We were very surprised at the amount in there,” Phoenix police Det. Adam Popelier said in a police video taken Thursday as officers were pulling...

ZEBULON, N.C. — A 50-year-old man was found dead underneath a car while trying to steal a catalytic converter on Monday morning, according to officials with the Wake County Sheriff's Office. Joshua Larry Diehl was underneath a disabled car when the jack he was using malfunctioned and was stuck pinned underneath the car on U.S. Route 64 at Debnam Road in Zebulon. "It is unknown how long Diehl may have been under the vehicle before being discovered," officials said. The owner of the car was on her way home from work on Sunday night and had to pull over because...

On Tuesday morning, Mayor London Breed announced a new, privately funded reward of up to $100,000 leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals involved in organized crime rings, which the mayor's office says fuels automobile burglaries. The reward is funded by "private donors in the hospitality and tourism industry," per a press release. The mayor's office did not immediately return a request for more information about these "private donors." According to the release, the San Francisco Police Department and other regional law enforcement agencies have identified "fewer than a dozen regular auto burglary crews responsible for the large majority...

A Missouri man trying to sell a catalytic converter online has been arrested after a huge stash of meth and a syringe were spotted in the background of the photo he used for the advertisement. James Kertz, 38, was taken into custody in Reeds Spring on Wednesday after posting a photo of the catalytic converter on Facebook Marketplace. His bag of meth and drug paraphernalia were clearly visible on the coffee table behind the exhaust emission device he was trying to get rid of. Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader said someone tipped them off to the drug stash soon after...