Catalytic converter thefts remain on the rise, state police say, and this time caused damage to a Northampton County car dealership and auto center.
Pennsylvania State Police in Bethlehem are investigating incidents at Mike’s Automotive and Mechanical Repair, 163 N. Walnut St. in Bath, and the Brown-Daub dealership, 3903 Hecktown Road in Lower Nazareth. Both happened last month and were reported on April 12 to state police.
In the Mike’s Automotive incident, thieves are believed on April 9 to have cut the catalytic converter from a truck parked in the lot. The damage was roughly $1,700, police said.
In the Brown-Daub incident, thieves around the same time stole a catalytic converter from a vehicle parked in the dealership’s lot. That theft caused $3,075 worth of damage, according to state police.
Both vehicles in each incident were reported as Ford models.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau has been tracking the surge in catalytic converter thefts, reporting an estimated ten-fold increase in thefts since 2018, with more than 14,000 reported being swiped in 2020 — the most recent data available.
Catalytic converters resemble small mufflers along an exhaust system and are designed to convert environmentally-hazardous exhaust emitted by the engine and convert them into less harmful gasses. To do this, they use platinum, palladium, or rhodium. The values of these precious metals have skyrocketed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau says.
As of May 8, 2024, rhodium sits at $4,500 per ounce; palladium at $932 per ounce; and platinum at $963 per ounce, according to kitco.com.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at [email protected].
