Cars Stripped For Easy Cash, News 4 Investigates Goes Undercover To Tackle Catalytic Converter Theft

St. Louis MO

23 February, 2021

8:36 AM

Description

CBS St. Louis February 23, 2021 Catalytic converters, critical to making your car run correctly, are being stolen by thieves looking for easy cash. It can cost a victim hundreds or thousands of dollars to replace. "I use this van for my work," said Lars Coats, whose catalytic converters were recently stolen in South St. Louis. "As soon as I turned the key and started it up, I knew what had happened." It's happening all over the St. Louis region. Toyota Prius' are a big target, but commercial vehicles at businesses and charities also being hit hard. "Generally speaking, it's a problem," said Grant Bissell with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Law enforcement has seen a spike in the crime. Just since the start of the year, St. Louis police report nearly 60 stolen catalytic converters. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says 70 catalytic converters in their area have been stolen in just the last few months. "It is something we are looking at very hard right now," Bissel said. "Apparently it's a big problem across the entire country right now. I think it's a relatively easy score as far as cash goes." Bissel says it's all just a business. Inside a catalytic converter are several precious metals: platinum, palladium and rhodium, which have seen recent increases in market value. "The reason behind this crime is the reason behind a lot of crimes; its money. Someone is buying them," Bissel said. News 4 decided to go straight to the middle man. Using a catalytic converter we borrowed from a local autobody repair shop, News 4 Investigates went undercover to see what salvage yards are up to. We found local scrap yards who were willing to buy it for big bucks with little to no questions asked. But others, wouldn't even talk about buying it. Some experts say regulations about buying and selling can vary by location. St. Louis City prohibits anyone from selling a catalytic converter unless they are a vehicle repair business. And one city scrap yard appeared to play by the rules, at least in part. "It's absolutely worth something but I have to have a business license or that you work on vehicles of some type or the title of the vehicle that it came off of to buy it," said a woman at one of the salvage yards. "There has been an epidemic if you will," said State Representative Don Mayhew, from Pulaski County. He is now looking to make laws more stringent statewide. "Without teeth, it's just another piece of paper that we file."