Blades, Bolt-Cutters, License Plate In Suspicious Vehicle Tipped Off Deputy To Catalytic Converter Theft Suspect
WELD COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4)- A deputy with a hunch helped build a case toward finding one of many suspected perpetrators in the widespread theft of catalytic converters. In Weld County, a deputy this week found several sawed-off catalytic converters packed inside a man's trunk.
Thefts of these items are a continuous problem across Colorado and police are trying to crack down.
Weld County Sheriff's Deputy Erick Lasey said his hunch began with observance.
"(I) just found a vehicle at the hotel that was suspicious to me," he said. "It stood out. Looked into it, there were saw blades, bolt cutters, a license plate to a different vehicle sitting on the floor… Kind of one of those things that is a clue to us."
The deputy had seen several sawed-off catalytic converters packed inside a man's trunk.
Shortly after, the 911 dispatch center received a report of a local RV sales location with stolen converters and Lacey said, "I jokingly asked the owner of the business if it happened to be a little Altima in his video. He smiled and laughed and said it was. I said I probably know where the suspects are."
At the hotel, the driver of the car, Austin Brumfield of Wyoming, 29, was arrested and a search warrant was approved.
Even upon the find, a local shop quoted it would be nearly $3,600 each to get them repaired and reinstalled.
The sheriff's office says some local scrapyards are paying top dollar for the stolen goods. They also said that sometimes when their deputies try to stop suspects from stealing catalytic converters, they speed away, often in stolen cars.
The incidence of finding the converters and the cars they match up to makes it hard to pinpoint each source of steal, officials say. Therefore, the incidence of this crime hasn't decreased.
"When they pulled the vehicle out to search it, they pulled four catalytic converters from the trunk of the car," Lasey said. "They chop them off and within 48 hours they are at a scrapyard selling them. To find it, arrest somebody and get property back all in one case is pretty good to see."
