Miami police detective gives inside take on soaring catalytic converter thefts

MIAMI – Miami Police Auto Crimes Detail Detective Osvaldo Toca is on the frontlines of a national crime trend – stolen catalytic converters.

“As far as South Florida in this last year is when we started to see the increase,” he explained.

Thieves have been pilfering catalytic converters, in part for the precious metals they contain with some vehicles.

“They try to go for higher-rise vehicles – trucks, vans,” Toca said.

These vehicles make for better targets than others.

“Hybrid vehicles like Priuses -- Honda elements, as well, because they have a greater amount of the precious metals inside,” Toca said.

Toca also provided Local 10 News with a rare view of converters that have been impounded into evidence to raise awareness of what can be done to help police catch criminals.

“You can see they saw off the pipe, take the whole catalytic converter piece,” Toca said. “Call us right away. We’ve caught these offenders in the act.”

One of Toca’s cases led to the arrest of 44-year-old Francisco Lozano-Hernandez, who is now facing felony charges.

“The vandalism charge of actually cutting it off to fix that piece is over $1,000, and the actual value of the item it is grand theft,” Toca said.

Toca said surveillance video at a business in Miami caught Lozano-Hernandez walking from a victim’s car to his rented U-Haul, holding a stolen catalytic converter.

“A lot of these offenders, they cross jurisdictions,” Toca said.

So he began digging through records, working with other agencies, and learned Lozano-Hernandez had also been arrested for stealing catalytic converters in other cities, like Hialeah.

“Working in conjunction with other departments to get this offender identified,” Toca said.

He says one challenge to solving these cases is what you don’t see on the converters.

“There is no identifiable factor on this to know which vehicle they belong to,” he said.

To deter thieves and help police track them down, he says mechanics, dealers and drivers can etch or spray paint your VIN or tag number on the converter and install anti-theft devices, like shields and guards.

People should also park in a well-lit area and consider a higher sensitivity car alarm, as well as installing video surveillance and motion senor lights at your home or business.

The crime, he says, is noisy.

“Neighborhood watchers, they hear it and swift -- if you see it happening, take video or pictures of the thieves or the getaway car’s license plate, but keep yourself safe by not approaching,” Toca said. “Hoping individuals can start catching on to this and start helping to be part of the solution to prevent these type of crimes.”

“We saw a significant increase of catalytic converter thefts during the pandemic. As the value of the precious metals contained within catalytic converters increased substantially in 2020, so did the number of thefts of these devices,” National Insurance Crime Bureau CEO David Glawe said in a statement. “There is a clear connection between times of crisis, limited resources, and disruption of the supply chain that drives investors towards these precious metals.

“Catalytic converter thefts have risen dramatically over the past two years and are at record highs. Vehicle owners pay a high price when a thief targets their catalytic converter, often incurring lost income from missing work, needing to find and pay for alternate transportation and then paying anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000 to repair the vehicle.”

TO REDUCE THE CHANCE OF HAVING YOUR CATALYTIC CONVERTER STOLEN, THE NICB RECOMMENDS YOU:

· Install a catalytic converter anti-theft device. These are available from various manufacturers and can provide a level of security from theft.

· Park fleet trucks in an enclosed area that is secured, well lighted, locked and alarmed.

· Park personal vehicles, if possible, in a garage. If not possible and the vehicle must be parked in a driveway, consider installing motion sensor security lights. While lights may not provide complete security, it may make some thieves think twice, and they may opt to leave the area, and your car, untouched. Whether in the garage or outside in the driveway, set the alarm on your vehicle if equipped.

· Attend a local NICB catalytic converter etching event. If none are currently scheduled in your area, contact a muffler shop that can etch your vehicle’s VIN on the converter, and spray it with a highly visible high-heat paint. Doing so enables the NICB and law enforcement to track the converters which could lead to the arrest of catalytic converter thieves.

· Typical vehicles that are targeted include high-clearance vehicles, fleet vehicles as they are typically contained in a yard and several can be targeted easily, and hybrid vehicles. It only takes a matter of seconds to come up to a car, crawl underneath and cut out the converter.