Officers from the Orillia OPP detachment are investigating three separate incidents in which people have had the catalytic converter stolen from their parked vehicles.
The first of these incidents happened sometime during the day on Friday, May 21; the catalytic converter was cut from a Honda CRV which was parked in a public parking lot in the city.
The owner of the vehicle, Hannah Ly, was leaving her work at a local optometrist’s office for the day when she noticed something was missing from her car.
“My car was really loud, and when I started to drive home the maximum it could go was 40 kilometres an hour,” Ly explained.
“Underneath the car, there were two clear cuts near the muffler. They took the catalytic converter!”
Ly couldn’t understand why someone would steal a catalytic converter from her 2005 Honda CRV.
“I thought maybe somebody who has the same car as me needs that part but doesn’t have the money to replace it, or they stole it to make a quick $400 to $500,” she said.
For the Coldwater resident to fix her car and replace her catalytic converter it cost her nearly $2,000.
Despite the incident happening in broad daylight, no nearby cameras captured footage of the theft, and no patients from the optician’s office noticed any suspicious behaviour.
“I reported this to the police, but we don’t have any evidence, so I’m worried that they might do it again because we didn’t catch them the first time,” Ly said.
Ly says the theft has left her feeling defeated.
“I’ve had my hours cut because of COVID, I hear about people losing their jobs, and now there are people stealing from other people to survive and find money to eat ... that’s so sad,” she said.
To prevent the theft from happening again or to someone else, Ly hopes to see the online market for catalytic converters eliminated.
“I think if we can stop those buy-and-sell catalytic converter groups on the Internet, then it may not happen as much anymore,” she said.
In all three local cases, the targeted vehicle was a Honda CRV. Across the province, the most targeted vehicles have been motor homes and Ford trucks, located in parking lots, service garages, storage properties, and driveways.
Catalytic converters contain the precious metals Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium which can fetch top dollar from metal recycling companies.
According to the Orillia OPP, the other two local incidents happened in Orillia and Oro-Medonte.
On May 28, 2021, a homeowner in Oro-Medonte interrupted a theft in progress, shortly after 5 a.m., when he discovered a male beside his vehicle in his driveway.
The suspect fled on foot and upon further inspection, it was discovered that a single cut had been made through the vehicle's exhaust pipe near the catalytic converter.
On May 29, 2021, another vehicle owner, in Orillia, discovered that her catalytic converter had been stolen overnight when she found part of her muffler system on the ground near her vehicle. The thief had cut the desired part from the pipe and left the rest behind.
The Orillia OPP would like to remind vehicle owners of the following tips to help protect their property:
- Park your vehicle in a garage if available.
- Always park in a well-lit area.
- Install motion lighting and video surveillance equipment if possible.
- Park your vehicle close to a fence or curb on the muffler side, this will make the theft more difficult.
- Report all property crime to your local police, even if it seems minor in nature. Crime statistics are utilized by the OPP to help direct resources with crime prevention initiatives and directed patrols. You can report minor occurrences online.
