Image released by the Bucks County District Attorney shows the ten charged with various accounts relating to an alleged catalytic converter theft ring run out of TDI Towing in Pennsylvania.Bucks County DA
TDI would allegedly pay at least $10,000 every night to thieves who brought stolen catalytic converters to the tow yard. "On some nights, there would [be] 30 transactions with some thieves showing up more than once," the DA said in a release. "On several occasions, TDI Towing paid $1,000 for a single converter."
The DA said that TDI paid on average $300 per unit. This went on for allegedly three years, with an average of 175 catalytic converters coming in every week.
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More broadly, a catalytic converter theft crime wave appears to have swept the nation since the dawn of the pandemic, with Attorney General Merrick B. Garland directing the execution of 32 search warrants and 21 arrests of individuals in a nationwide bust in November 2022. That bust allegedly disrupted a $100 million theft ring, and in February, both houses of Congress introduced legislation that would stamp catalytic converters with serial numbers and beef up penalties and laws around their theft.
"The market prices for the three main metals in catalytic converters -- rhodium, platinum, and palladium -- increased dramatically during the pandemic because of supply chain issues," wrote the DA.
Theft of catalytic converters got so bad that the Bucks County DA "began to focus not only on individual thieves, or 'cutters,' but also the organizations or businesses purchasing the stolen" parts, the DA said.
