Catalytic Converter Thief at Large, Police Ask Public for Assistance

Mar 26, 2022

The Dallas Police Department is on the hunt for a suspect involved with the theft of a catalytic converter.

According to Dallas police, the suspect removed the catalytic converter from the victim’s vehicle at about 4:30 p.m. on February 4, in the 8500 block of Forney Road.

Dallas police revealed that the victim’s surveillance camera captured the suspect as he committed the theft. The city of Dallas has seen a rise in catalytic converter thefts in the past few months.

In February, Dallas police released data that showed these specific thefts rose by over 300 percent in 2021 compared to 2020. According to Dallas police, there were 123 catalytic converter thefts in 2019. The number rose to 655 in 2020.

The figures for 2021 show a record 2,187 catalytic converters stolen in the city.

According to a previous report on The Dallas Express, police received 800 reports of catalytic converter robberies as of July 2021. Suspects engaged in catalytic converter thefts are usually after the palladium, platinum, or rhodium used to make them.

Rhodium was valued at $14,500 per ounce as of December 2020, while an ounce of platinum or palladium was valued at $1,061 and $2,336, respectively, according to The National Insurance Crime Bureau.

A catalytic converter is a part of a vehicle’s engine that cleans harmful substances such as nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons from the vehicle’s exhaust emissions.

Dallas police have released an image of the suspect and are asking for the public’s help in apprehending him.

The Dallas Police Department is asking anyone with information that might help identify and arrest the suspect to contact Detective J. Hellenguard, with the Dallas Police Department’s Southeast Investigative Unit at 214-671-0132.