More than 100 catalytic converters stolen from Sonoma County cars

Ryan McGreevy stood on Sixth Street in Petaluma around 5:45 Tuesday morning, inspecting a set of skid marks that extended over 200 feet north.

“That’s about as long as I’ve seen,” said McGreevy, a detective with the Petaluma police department.

To his left: the smashed Honda sedan that left those skid marks before the driver crashed into a stout sycamore at the southeast corner of Sixth and A streets on the west side of Petaluma. Moments earlier, ambulances had transported the car’s two unidentified occupants to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with injuries that appeared serious, but not life-threatening.

Tuesday morning’s chase was Sonoma County’s second high-speed police pursuit of suspected catalytic converter thieves in one week. The county has seen a remarkable spate of over 100 stolen catalytic converters in recent weeks — usually from Prius models.

Petaluma police had received a report from a nearby neighborhood of vehicle tampering by two men in a small, dark vehicle, McGreevy said. When officers spotted that car and tried to stop it, the vehicle sped off at such a high speed — at least 90 mph, police said — that pursuit was quickly terminated.

Moments later, the driver lost control of the car, careening across the oncoming lane and into that tree, 150 yards south of the St. Vincent de Paul Church.

In the Honda, police found a reciprocating saw and at least two catalytic converters the men were suspected of cutting from cars.

Early in the morning of Jan. 5, Healdsburg police chased two males suspected of removing parts from a Toyota Prius on March Avenue. After smashing into the back end of a second patrol car, the thieves eventually escaped.

The converter boosted on March Avenue was the fourth stolen in Healdsburg in a month, Sgt. Luis Rodriguez said. While he couldn’t give a specific number, McGreevy described the thefts as “a big issue” in Petaluma.

But the hub of this crime spree is Santa Rosa, where 97 catalytic converters have been reported stolen since Nov. 1, said Brandon Matthies, a sergeant in the city’s Police Department. The converters, he said, are easily accessed and removed “by unbolting or cutting.”

“They just crawl under the vehicle, unbolt (the converter) or cut it with a Sawzall, and they’re gone,” Matthies said.

Catalytic converters are a component of vehicles’ exhaust systems. They were mandated for all U.S. cars and trucks in 1975, to cut down on pollutants.

Why do perpetrators target Prius cars? Those vehicles are relatively light, making them easier to jack up, police said. And the converters in Priuses — especially older models — contain higher amounts of precious metals, making them more attractive to thieves.

As of Tuesday, Petaluma’s Out West Garage automobile repair shop had seven cars on the premises in need of catalytic converters because they had been stolen. “Five were towed in over the weekend,” said Maria do Ceu, who owns the business.

Where “cats,” as mechanics call the converters, had been in good supply until recently, there’s now a shortage. “I heard this morning it could be February before we see any,” she said. “But I’m hopeful something will shake loose sooner. Right now, it’s all about herding ‘cats’.”

Petaluma police warned the public in June about a rash of such thefts: 20 already had been stolen in 2020. Police didn’t provide estimates Tuesday of how many catalytic converters have been stolen in the city in recent weeks.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has logged 13 thefts of catalytic converters since Dec. 1, said Sgt. Juan Valencia, who think the actual number is far greater.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, those arrested for certain property crimes are more likely to be processed and released the same day, rather than be jailed, said Valencia, who suspects that lack of deterrent may be linked to some of these thefts.

Regardless of motive, there have been far more thefts than arrests, although Healdsburg police came close to nabbing a pair of “cat” thieves. The dispatcher got a call at 3:30 on the morning of Jan. 5: two males were stealing parts from a Toyota Prius in a neighborhood north of downtown.

On his way to the scene, Healdsburg Police Officer Nick Doherty saw the suspects, who promptly took off “at a high rate of speed,” he recalled, west to Healdsburg Avenue, then north toward Dry Creek Road, where they crashed into the back of a second patrol car.

While that squad car was disabled, the suspected thieves continued onto southbound Highway 101, their damaged vehicle throwing off a shower of sparks as it approached 100 mph. “Luckily,” said Doherty, who stayed in pursuit, “there was no one else on the freeway.”

Driving a car that was later reported stolen, the suspects exited the freeway at Old Redwood Highway before turning around and driving north, up the southbound off-ramp, continuing up Highway 101 in the wrong direction.

Doherty took the northbound ramp onto the freeway, spotting the suspects’ car, abandoned in the median near the Central Healdsburg exit. While the suspects got away, the catalytic converter they’d stolen from that Prius was recovered.

Usually, victims of this crime don’t get their “cat” back, and are stuck with a hefty bill. Replacement converters will run them at least $1,000, and can cost up to three times that much. If damage occurred to the car’s wiring or fuel line during the theft, the price will be much higher.

Motorists can buy covers for their exhaust systems, which protect the catalytic converter. The insurance company Allstate suggests welding the converter to the car’s frame, making it harder to steal, and engraving the vehicle identification number onto the converter — alerting scrap dealers that the part is stolen.

Other common-sense steps: “Park in well-lit areas,” Sgt. Matthies said. If possible, he said, park the car in your driveway, and train motion-sensor lights on the area.

Even if “cat” thieves do target your car, it’s still possible to get lucky, like the motorist who recently brought a car into the Out West Garage, fearing its converter had been stolen.

Instead, Maria do Ceu said, the perpetrator had left the catalytic converter behind, instead stealing “a chunk of pipe” that will be easily, inexpensively replaced.

“I think that thief might have been a beginner,” do Ceu said.

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at 707-521-5214 or austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com or on Twitter @ausmurph88.