Brent M. Pennington, owner of Signature Truck Center in Crystal Lake, with three of his employees. (Provided by Brent M. Pennington )

The owner of a Crystal Lake business that sells used commercial trucks said Thursday he is increasing his offer to $4,000 for information leading to an arrest of the thieves who stole 28 catalytic converters from his trucks last month.

Brent M. Pennington, who has owned Signature Truck Center at 970 Pyott Road for about 12 years, said so far no tips leading to any suspects have been received.

He said he is working on adding extra cameras, lights and fencing to his property as well as hiring an overnight security guard.

“We are increasing the reward to try and prevent this from happening to other dealerships or any businesses to have to go through what we just had to go through,” Pennington said. “Our damage has already been done.”

He said at this point, it is not as much about his loss, but the loss to delivery companies that need the trucks, especially at this time of the year which is considered their “peak season.”

A missing catalytic converter, just one of 28 stolen the weekend of Aug. 28, 2022, from trucks at Signature Truck Center in Crystal Lake. (Provided by David Laucks)

Such businesses “normally purchase a lot of trucks during this time of the year,” he said. “This is a busy package delivery season, so they start buying now to get ready for that. Because of the shortage of parts, catalytic converters, some of our contractors might not have their trucks on time.”

Pennington said they are busy reaching out to “multiple shops” to get the converters they need and get the trucks to those contractors.

This is the second time in the last two years converters have been stolen from his trucks.

With a power saw and a bit of knowledge, it takes only minutes for a thief to slide under the truck and remove the part. A catalytic converter is a part of a vehicle’s exhaust system on trucks with diesel engines or larger.

The honeycomb of mesh, coated in precious metals designed to help protect the environment by controlling harmful emissions, has been required in every vehicle produced in the U.S. since 1975.

The thefts have cost the business about $84,000, said David Loucks, head of operations at the dealership.

The Crystal Lake Police Department is still actively working the case, Deputy Chief Rick Neumann said. Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crystal Lake Police Department at 815-356-3620.

In addition, anyone with a cellphone can send an anonymous tip to the Crystal Lake Police Department by texting the word CLPDTIP along with the tip information to 847411 (TIP411). Normal text messaging rates apply.

Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network

Copyright © 2022 Shaw Local News Network