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Cops collar two at Ron Hodgson

Saws and sacks of catalytic converters found on site
stock rcmp
FILE PHOTO/St. Albert Gazette

Two men have been charged with theft this week after the RCMP found two people who appeared to be cutting parts out of vehicles at a St. Albert dealership.

St. Albert RCMP got a call at about 4:45 a.m. Jan. 5 about two men roaming the Ron Hodgson used car lot on St. Albert Trail near the Anthony Henday checking vehicle doors, said Cst. M-J Burroughs.

Craig Chorzempa, sales manager at Ron Hodgson, said security crews called police after they spotted the men on the dealership’s video cameras.

“They were slinking around and you could see them ducking in between vehicles, and you could tell they had something in their hands,” he said of the men. One was wearing a camouflage hat with a bit of a mask hanging down from it.

“It was pretty obvious they were up to no good.”

Officers searched the site and found two adult men lying underneath two cars, which were side by side. They also found a reciprocating saw under each car.

“One of the saws was in the process of cutting off an exhaust pipe,” Burroughs said, having cut about halfway through it.

Police also found two bags containing a total of two catalytic converters in a corner of the lot. There were flattened down footprints in the snow beside the bags. An officer spotted a reciprocating saw blade on the running board of a vehicle that had its exhaust cut off.

Police charged and arrested the two men with theft under $5,000. The Edmonton-area men, whose names have not been released, have been released from custody and are to appear in St. Albert Provincial Court Feb. 10.

Expensive crimes

Catalytic converters are small boxy devices attached to vehicle exhaust systems that use valuable metals such as gold and platinum to neutralize pollutants. Thieves can steal them by cutting through a vehicle’s exhaust pipe.

“They are very easy to remove and they’re expensive to replace,” Burroughs said, with replacements running at about $2,000. Stolen converters can be sold as-is or as scrap metal.

Converter thefts have been on the rise throughout Canada in recent months, Burroughs said. St. Albert saw 11 such thefts in September and at least two more in October. Three people were arrested in relation to converter thefts in the Riel Industrial Park in October. The Edmonton Police Service has logged some 500 converter thefts since October, with about 55 reported in the week of Jan. 1.

Chorzempa said five SUVs and trucks located on the edge of the dealership’s lot were damaged in this latest theft and would cost up to $4,000 each to fix. The dealership paid $3,500 last summer to fix a Ford Ranger that had its converter stolen.

“Unfortunately, it’s the cost of doing business,” he said of the thefts, which they would likely recoup through sales.

Burroughs said converter thefts are crimes of opportunity that have happened in broad daylight in public parking lots in St. Albert. St. Albert RCMP have advised owners to park in secure garages or high-traffic, high-visibility areas where possible to guard against these thefts, and to report any suspicious people in their neighbourhood to police.

“If people see something that doesn’t look right, follow your instincts,” Burroughs said.

Industry reports suggest converter thieves tend to target later-model vehicles, especially trucks and SUVs, as they have more valuable converters and are easier to get under, Chorzempa said. Your car will either flash a warning light or sound like a hot-rod if its converter has been stolen.

“You got to wonder, if somebody shows up somewhere with a box of 30 catalytic converters, who’s buying it from him without checking to make sure the guy owned these vehicles?” he said.

“As long as there are people out there paying for catalytic converters, people are going to be stealing catalytic converters.”

Anyone with information on this or any other crime should call the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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