Darienite (https://darienite.com/more-reports-from-around-town-of-catalytic-converters-stolen-from-parked-cars-346503)

Catalytic converters were stolen from four different vehicles at three locations in Darien, police were told during a four-day period last week, from Feb. 7 to 11.

Two vans owned by the same business on Noroton Avenue had their converters removed (another pair of catalytic converter thefts happened to a business’s vans at 320 Post Road on Feb. 3). The vans at the Noroton Avenue business had last been driven on Jan. 31, the victim said, so the theft might have occurred at any time between then and Feb. 11.

In recent months, thieves have stolen catalytic converters from vehicles at business and residential parking lots and elsewhere, both in Darien and elsewhere. The thefts have happened for years, but more have been happening in recent weeks.

These are the three latest incidents. Darien police described them in a news release on Tuesday:

A man parked his vehicle at the Noroton Heights Railroad Station parking lot on Monday, Feb. 7, and when he returned to it at 4 p.m. that day, he noticed the muffler sounded odd. He had the vehicle inspected and was told the catalytic converter was missing, he told police the next day. The cost to replace and install the device was about $2,500, he said.

Sometime between 9 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 7 and the next morning, a catalytic converter was cut from a vehicle parked at a condominium complex lot on Hollow Tree Ridge Road. (Police didn’t name the complex, but the only condominium complext Darienite.com knows about is Avalon Darien. As often happens, the victim realized something was wrong when the vehicle was started in the morning and began making a loud sound.

More catalytic converters were stolen from two work vans parked at an address in a stretch of Noroton Avenue between Heights Road and Park Place, a victim reported at 8:30 a.m. last Friday, Feb. 11. The vans had last been driven on Jan. 31.

Here’s some advice at the bottom of Darienite.com’s last article about these kinds of thefts, which have been happening, off and on, for years in Darien:

— Catalytic Converters Stolen from Vehicles in Office Lot at Night, School Lot During the Day (Feb. 9)

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