JOPLIN, Mo. —
Loretta Yocom came out of Hollywood Theaters in Joplin a week ago after watching “The Life of Pi” and may have thought for just a millisecond that she had a tiger in her Toyota 4Runner.
“I went to start the car and it roared like it didn’t even have a muffler on it,” Yocom said.
She drove it down to the Fletcher Toyota dealership, where she was told what the trouble was: Someone stole her SUV’s catalytic converter while she was at the movies.
Plucked it right out of the exhaust system.
In broad daylight.
In a jam-packed parking lot.
The Neosho woman soon learned from police and others that the theft of catalytic converters is a growing crime nationwide.
“My daughter lives in Kansas City, and she says they’re doing it up there like mad,” Yocom said.
Rachele Davis, a crime analyst with the Joplin Police Department, confirmed that catalytic converter thefts are on the uptick locally as well. Since Aug. 1 there have been 19 such thefts reported in the city, Davis said. Ten of those were committed in December. Of the 19 thefts, 16 involved trucks or SUVs.
“We have been replacing and repairing quite a few of them that have been stolen,” said Mike Fogerson, owner and operator of Comer’s Muffler at 901 E. 15th St. “We did two (Monday). There has definitely been a rash of them.”
Popular targets
Fogerson said SUVs and trucks tend to be the most popular targets because they sit up high, allowing thieves to get under them more easily than most types of cars. Imports seem to be targeted more often than domestic vehicles, but Fogerson said he also has seen them removed from church buses and delivery vehicles.
Robert Jarnigan, of J&M Muffler, with shops in Joplin and Webb City, said people are getting them stolen while parked in shopping centers, at work and at other locations, and at about any time of day. He said it only takes a couple of minutes with a power saw. Getting under the vehicles is the hardest part.
Nevertheless, Jarnigan is a little perplexed how they are getting away with it since cutting them out is a noisy proposition and should attract attention, he said.
Cpl. Chuck Niess said police suspect the thieves in Joplin are using cordless Sawzalls.
“We haven’t caught anybody doing that yet, but their cuts are all clean, straight lines, not done by hand with a hacksaw,” he said.
He said they usually cut the exhaust pipe both in front and behind the converter. Or they cut in front of the converter and take the whole back part of the exhaust system with them. In Yocom’s case, they removed some bolts, she said.
Niess said officers were ordered recently to begin noting in their reports what the make and model is on each vehicle so the department can determine which vehicles are at greater risk, and for purposes of identification if any suspected stolen converters are recovered.
Thieves find the converters attractive to steal because they contain trace amounts of pricey metals — platinum, rhodium and palladium. Platinum is worth more per ounce than gold, and palladium is worth more than $700 an ounce.
Detective Darren McIntosh, who has been put in charge of the city’s cases, said the converters — dubbed “loaves” or “bread loaves” — bring the thieves anywhere from $15 to $150 apiece. He said on the average they are probably receiving about $70.
Several local scrap yard operators who declined to be identified said that either they don’t take catalytic converters or they offer only a token price of $5 to discourage thefts, but noted they can be sold online.
McIntosh said vehicles left in commercial lots for extended periods of time are the most vulnerable to this type of theft. That’s why rental car agencies, auto repair shops and car dealerships are among the most frequent victims.
Fogerson and Jarnigan said it can cost a vehicle owner a minimum of $200 and perhaps much more to replace a converter, depending on the make and model of the vehicle. Yocom said she was told hers was going to cost her a little over $200.
Globe Metro Editor Andy Ostmeyer contributed to this report.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Mike Fogerson, co-owner and operator of Comer’s Muffler Center, holds up a piece of metal from inside a catalytic converter. Thieves are stealing converters because they contain trace amounts of pricey metals — platinum, rhodium and palladium. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
-
Mike Fogerson, co-owner and operator of Comer’s Muffler Center, takes a look at the catalytic converter on a customer’s car at his Joplin business. Nineteen thefts of the converters have been reported since Aug. 1 in Joplin. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
-
A catalytic converter is shown on a customer’s car at Comer’s Muffler Center in Joplin. SUVs and trucks tend to be the most popular targets for thefts of catalytic converters because they sit up high, allowing thieves to get under them more easily than most types of cars. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
Discussion
Police: Catalytic converter thefts climb in area
- Local News
-
-
Alcohol, speed suspected factors in fatal crash Saturday
The driver in a double-fatality accident Saturday in Joplin is suspected of having been intoxicated and speeding at almost twice the posted limit. He may also have been attempting a trick-driving maneuver, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
-
New Mexico man draws prison term in Joplin child-rape case
A 59-year-old man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to sexual abuse of a developmentally disabled 8-year-old girl in Joplin. Robert L. Newton pleaded guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to first-degree statutory rape, first-degree statutory sodomy and felony failure to appear in court in a plea agreement with the prosecutor’s office.
-
Carthage School Board OKs $45 million budget
A proposed budget that sets Carthage School District spending at $45.7 million for the fiscal year starting July 1 was approved by the Carthage School Board on Monday night. The budget represents an increase of almost 3.5 percent over spending in the current year’s budget. It also includes additional teaching positions and increases in staff pay, said Superintendent Blaine Henningson.
-
Mike Pound: It’s OK to leave dad alone on Father’s Day
My wife was worried that I would mind being alone for a couple of hours on Sunday.
Sunday was Father’s Day, and my wife had the crazy notion that I wanted to be surrounded by kith and kin all day. -
Joplin City Council to move forward on $130 million recovery proposal; curbside recycling election resurrected
Residents kept the house packed to the end of a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night to encourage the panel to resurrect some kind of curbside recycling proposal and to hear the details or support a $130 million recovery plan.
-
Board chairwoman: Bruce Speck out as MSSU president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday. The announcement was made late Monday afternoon following a unanimous vote taken during a closed board meeting Friday.
-
Joplin to proceed with $130 million recovery plan, recycling election
The Joplin City Council on Monday night agreed to go forward with formal consideration of a $130 million recovery plan and revived a bill to hold an April vote of the people on the question of whether to institute curbside recycling.
-
Former disaster relief worker, others indicted for fraud following Joplin tornado
A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of the Economic Security Corp. in Joplin, her boyfriend and a third alleged conspirator in connection with the defrauding of the government via tornado relief funds. A sealed, three-count indictment was returned June 11 in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Herlana L. Latham, 31, and Christopher L. Smith, 36, both of Memphis, Tenn., and John L. Williams, 30, of Cairo, Ill. T
-
Back on the books: Reassessment numbers reflect rebuilding after 2011 tornado
Owners of nearly 8,000 properties in Jasper County have been notified that the value of real property they own has increased, and rebuilding from the Joplin tornado represents a significant share of that number. Officials in the county assessor’s office recently mailed out notices of higher property values, raised as a result of countywide reassessment.
-
Crop-duster takes to skies again after walking away from crash
RIVERTON, Kan. — Two minutes after John “Tim” Kellogg flew over his rural Cherokee County home and waved at his wife on their porch, the oil pressure in his crop-dusting plane dropped and the engine began smoking. “I knew I was going to be on the ground in 15 to 20 seconds, and I knew it was going to be a hard landing,” he said. A former mechanic on F-16s, F-15s and F-4s for the U.S. Air Force, Kellogg, 48, had to make a split-second decision.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Alcohol, speed suspected factors in fatal crash Saturday
