This Nationwide Theft Ring Allegedly Brought In Half A Billion Dollars From Stolen Catalytic Converters

Joe McElroy got into his Honda sedan one morning in late 2020, turned the key, and heard a loud screech. “Gotdamn,” he said. As a mechanic, he knew instantly that his car’s catalytic converter — a football-sized device on the undercarriage between the engine and muffler that reduces environmentally harmful exhaust emissions — had been stolen, sawed off overnight while the car sat in the driveway. Replacing the missing part set him back $900. McElroy, who is 74 and has lived in Sacramento all his life, had never suffered this sort of theft before.

It’s an experience that has become more common across the country, especially in California, where property crime has increased since the start of the pandemic, contributing to recall campaigns that ousted the district attorney in San Francisco and aimed to do the same in Los Angeles. While news footage of robberies at convenience stores and smash-and-grabs at luxury boutiques offered recall supporters dramatic evidence of lawlessness in the state, the crime trend that has most directly affected the highest number of residents is catalytic converter theft, an act swift, invisible, and silent until the screech of broken exhaust pipes the following morning.