Six people have been arrested in connection with the theft of thousands of catalytic converters from Franklin County and other areas in central Ohio, and Groveport police are saying legislative change by Ohio's lawmakers is needed to help address the problem.
Groveport police Chief Casey Adams said a multi-agency investigation led by his department found that as many as 13,000 catalytic converters have been stolen in central Ohio in a 14-month period, causing an estimated $19 million in losses to the community or about $1,500 per converter.
Adams did not identify the suspects, because police are waiting on what they expect will be grand jury indictments on felony charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, receiving stolen property, scrap law violations and money laundering.
"The city of Groveport will not tolerate thieves targeting hard-working members of our community," Adams said. "It hurts everybody — whether you live in Groveport, you live in Reynoldsburg or you live anywhere in the central Ohio community — it just affects us all."
Catalytic converters are emission-control devices on vehicles that can fetch several hundred to thousands of dollars because they are composed of precious metals, including palladium, platinum and rhodium. In the past several years, catalytic converter theft has skyrocketed across the country, increasing more than 300% from 2019 to 2020, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
In addition to passenger vehicles, box trucks and other large vehicles also are the target of catalytic converter thieves, Adams said. Even public vehicles like buses are being targeted.
Four marked San Francisco Police Department vehicles were found Monday to have had their catalytic converters stolen from them outside the Special Operations Bureau, which includes SWAT and bomb squad vehicles.
Adams was joined at a press conference Thursday by members of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Reynoldsburg Division of Police and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
After months of investigation, police executed search warrants on the suspects, who live in and operated out of Columbus' South Side. A total of nine warrants were performed, yielding multiple catalytic converters, stolen vehicles, 52 weapons (including 13 stolen firearms), criminal tools and a marijuana-growing operation.
In addition to catalytic converter thefts, Adams said the organization was involved in selling 300 stolen vehicles for scrap, while only producing titles or documentation for 44 vehicles. He said that catalytic converter thieves have exploited loopholes in Ohio's scrapyard law, sometimes by creating limited liability corporations to bypass limits on the quantity of scrap they can sell.
Adams said the Groveport Police Department has been in contact with local state representatives about trying to get legislation introduced that would close scrapyard loopholes, but said he has been told change will be a lengthy process.
"It shouldn't have to take years to go through committees and subcommittees and all that," Adams said. "Everybody's committees are being affected by (the thefts), and I hope the legislators would kind of put this on the fast track to maybe squash a lot of this activity."
Last year, Rep. Bob Young , R-Green, Young introduced House Bill 408, which would ban the sale of catalytic converters without proof of ownership. In a press release, Young's office said the bill was meant to "protect consumers from catalytic converter theft and create more transparent guidelines for businesses."
The bill was referred to the Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee, where it received two hearings, including one in April.
Earlier this year, an investigation also led by the Groveport Police Department resulted in a Columbus man being charged with crimes related to running a catalytic converter theft ring that stole thousands of catalytic converters in five central Ohio counties. Five others were charged with similar crimes, including establishing a limited liability corporation to exploit loopholes.
Adams said catalytic converter theft has become a persistent problem for central Ohio and encouraged community members to consider investing in products like cages for their catalytic converters and doorbell cameras that can help deter theft.
"I almost feel like I'm playing whack-a-mole," Adams said. "We'll take this group out, the next ones will come in."