Sheriff: Another catalytic converter taken
Jan. 21—TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department officials said another catalytic converter was taken on Monday from a green Jeep in Mayfield Township.
This is the fifth time this week a missing catalytic converter was reported to law enforcement.
Two incidents took place in Green Lake Township and two in Blair Township on Monday and Tuesday; and, in one instance in Blair Township, aluminum rims were also taken.
They believe a suspect is taking catalytic converters from vehicles parked in the evening and overnight at businesses, while the businesses are closed, according to a statement.
Catalytic converters getting taken from the chassis of vehicles is also a common occurrence, as they contain a small amount of precious metals, which can be sold at a high price on the black market or at salvage shops.
Burm Loveland, owner of Grandpa's Garage, a salvage yard in Blair Township, said he runs checks on any catalytic converter that's cut off a vehicle and brought in to make sure it's not stolen.
He says he buys converters from $20 up to $200 or $300 each, depending on what it is, and doesn't take the precious metals off of them.
"No, I don't even take them apart. I just leave them all together," he said.
Directly across the street, Rebecca Soper, assistant service representative of the recycling center, PADNOS, said her business checks IDS, processes the converter and defers payment until they can be sure it isn't stolen.
PADNOS, which has businesses around Michigan, keeps tabs on if catalytic converters are taken and Soper said she usually gets at least one notification a day in the PADNOS system, multiple in the summer.
She said people bringing catalytic converters in isn't as common as aluminum, washers, driers and regular sheet metal but said she still got five to eight converters a week in the summer and three to five turned in right now.
Normally, Soper said, she buys whole catalytic converters for $90 to $150 each but has accepted them up to $1,200 as a top price. She said she pays $7 a pound for the insides of a converter, aka the precious metals, but said someone would have to go elsewhere to distill the metal and sell it.
Soper also said the price of whole catalytic converters has come down in the past four to five months but the price of precious metals has gone up.
She said she believed it would be more profitable for someone to sell a whole converter, of which there can be multiple on some vehicles, than to sell the inside of the converter or try to go through the process of distilling the metals.
"Well, they're not going to make a big profit off of them if they cut them in half and extract the insides out of them. But, if you bring them in whole, that's when they're worth a lot more money," she said.
Police are asking anyone who has information on these incidents to call 9-1-1 and report what they know to Central Dispatch, who can also be reached at 231-922-4550.
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