U.S. Justice Dept. announces what officials are calling the first national takedown of a criminal enterprise profiting from the rampant theft of catalytic converters.
since the pandemic began, fueled by a surge in the value of those metals. Thieves made off with 12 times as many catalytic converters in 2021 as they did in 2019, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Agents from the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigations and Homeland Security Investigations conducted operations in California, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, and Virginia. Two separate indictments in California and Oklahoma accuse the defendants of conspiracy to traffic in stolen property, alleging they bought stolen converters, stripped the valuable minerals and sold them to metal refineries.
A California indictment says Khanna operated DG Auto, which government records show has facilities in New Jersey and Wisconsin. Prosecutors say that was among the businesses allegedly purchasing stolen catalytic converters and reselling them. Federal agents also searched a business in Wrightstown, New Jersey, called Blacey’s U-Pick Autoparts.Technician Adelmo Rodriguez etches a catalytic converter with a license plate number in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 2021.
“This national network of criminals hurt victims across the country,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “They made hundreds of millions of dollars in the process — on the backs of thousands of innocent car owners.
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