Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a pair of incidents pertaining to the criminal mischief and theft of catalytic converters.
State police in Bethlehem shortly after 9:30 pm Dec. 21 responded to a Verizon business, 1800 Race St. in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. An unknown male suspect was found lying underneath a truck cutting off a catalytic converter with a saw. He was successful in detaching the part from the vehicle, police said.
Once the suspect noticed he was spotted, he ran through an opening in a gated fence, police said. The suspect then got into his vehicle in a nearby parking lot and drove away, according to the police.
The vehicles vandalized in that incident included a 2014 Chrysler Ram and a 2011 Chevrolet Express full-sized van. Police are investigating that case as a criminal mischief incident totaling more than $1,000.
The second incident happened just before 4pm Christmas along Levans Road in North Whitehall.
A 37-year-old male victim reported three catalytic converters, totaling $12,000 in value, were stolen from three vehicles. The vehicles in that case included a 2021 GMC Sierra; 2010 Chevrolet Express full-sized van; 2015 Chrysler Ram. Another part — a carry on trailer tongue — had $1,000 worth of damage, police said.
That case is being investigated by the police as a theft incident.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau has been tracking the surge in catalytic converter thefts, reporting an estimated ten-fold increase in thefts since 2018, with more than 14,000 reported being swiped in 2020 — the most recent data available.
Catalytic converters resemble small mufflers along an exhaust system and are designed to convert environmentally-hazardous exhaust emitted by the engine and convert them into less harmful gases. To do this, they use platinum, palladium, or rhodium. The values of these precious metals have skyrocketed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau says.
As of March 2022, rhodium sits at $20,000 per ounce; palladium at $2,938 per ounce; and platinum at $1,128 per ounce, according to kitco.com.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at [email protected].
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