The month of July saw a spike in the thefts of catalytic converters with 12 removed from vehicles in the unincorporated areas of Fayette County and another six thefts in Fayetteville. One of the thefts occurred while the victim was shopping in a grocery store.
Peachtree City figures were not available.
Fayette County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brent Rowan said the spike in catalytic converter thefts during July resulted in the theft of 12 of the devices from six locations.
Meantime, Fayetteville Police spokesman Steve Crawshaw reported five catalytic converter thefts in July and one in June.
Rowan said the converters in five vehicles were stolen on July 8 from the Storage Xxtra facility on Ga. Highway 85 North. The vehicles were parked overnight in an area in the front of the building that was not fenced, Rowan said.
Another converter was reported stolen on July 5 from a church vehicle at Fayetteville Christian Church on Hickory Road and three others were stolen on July 16 from the Aamco transmission shop on Hwy. 85 North, said Rowan.
Thefts also occurred July 19 at Smith and Davis Furniture on Ga. Highway 54 West when a converter was stolen from a box truck, said Rowan. That theft came one day after the theft of another converter from a personal vehicle left overnight July 18 at a church on Lester Road. Rowan said there was also an overnight theft on July 21 from a residence on Graves Road.
The thefts in Fayetteville, one in June and five in July, largely occurred overnight outside the individual residences, said Crawshaw. But two of the thefts were different. One occurred in the parking lot of an office building on Hwy. 54 while the other took place in the parking lot of the Towne Center Kroger grocery store on Hwy. 85 South, Crawshaw said.
Crawshaw noted that it takes very little time to remove a catalytic converter, which is likely a contributing factor in the daytime thefts.
“We think they are using a type of handsaw that keeps the noise down,” said Crawshaw, adding that many catalytic converters are located in areas under the vehicle that are easily accessible.
Neither Fayetteville nor Fayette County law enforcement reported any other catalytic converter thefts in recent months prior to ones in July, though there have been instances throughout Fayette County, and across the United States, in recent years when the devices were the target of thieves.
So what inside a catalytic converter is so valuable? The answer: precious metals. Increasingly rare metals such as palladium, platinum and rhodium are present in very small amounts inside each catalytic converter. But even small amounts can be a lure for thieves, considering that platinum sells for nearly $2,000 an ounce and rhodium, one of the world’s most expensive materials, sells for approximately $9,500 per ounce, according to Nationwide Insurance.
