LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A minuscule bit of material in you car's exhaust system is attracting thieves, causing big headaches and costing victims thousands in repair bills.
13 Investigates examines the forces driving catalytic converter theft in the Las Vegas valley.
"I noticed a lot of black smoke coming from under the truck," David Gomez said.
Gomez's truck wasn't the only thing fuming when he pulled over to find the cause of his sudden car trouble.
"I saw that somebody had completely sawed off the metal part of my connector between my muffler and my exhaust manifold," Gomez said.
Gomez is one of many Las Vegans who've shared their stories with 13 Investigates, detailing a costly crime trend: catalytic converter theft.
"The final bill was $5,500," he said. And his truck was stuck at the shop for nearly two weeks.
"They cut out the lines, all these special lines and everything, which caused a tremendous headache," Gomez said of the thieves.
Catalytic converters contain tiny amounts of precious metals, which crooks bank on turning into big bucks. And they can do it in less time than it takes to heat up a cup of coffee.
Our Scripps News station in Denver got a home security video of crooks in the act.
As the driver stays at the ready, two men jump from a car. With battery powered saws, they cut off the converter and get away in just 45 seconds.
And that's not a fluke.
Our Denver investigative team set up a demonstration at a recycling company using a smashed pick-up truck. There was only one man on the job this time, and he cut off the converter in 18 seconds.
Here in Las Vegas, as recently as 2018, Metropolitan police could count catalytic converter thefts on one hand — with just five reported that year.
Thirty were reported stolen in 2019.
By 2020, there were 494 reported converter thefts.
And in 2021, it jumped to 1,894 — an increase of 6,213% in just three years.
Last year, the number spiked again to 2,625.
In North Las Vegas, police reported 122 thefts in a six-month period in 2021. Thefts jumped 28% in the same months of 2022, with 156 stolen converters.
So why have these car parts become such a rich target for thieves?
"You're talking about platinum, palladium, and rhodium."
Those precious metals are worth big money, says Simon Jowitt, a UNLV associate professor who holds a doctorate in economic geology.
The metals come from only five places on the planet, Jowitt explained: "Russia, a little bit in Montana in the U.S., quite a lot in Canada, just north of Toronto, and also western Australia."
The vast majority come from an area near Johannesburg, South Africa where the platinum metals were discovered in the 1910s. But after a century of mining, Jowitt says, the low-hanging fruit has long been plucked from the ground.
"It's not mining in a near-surface environment. It's mining it like 2 1/2, 3 miles depth or so, maybe even deeper," he explained.
And because time is money, digging deeper drives up the costs.
But Jowitt says the biggest factor is demand, with nearly 1.5 billion cars on roads around the world this year compared to about 600 million in the early 1990s. Demand also increases as emission regulations get stricter.
Supply chain issues and inflation related to the COVID-19 pandemic did not necessarily impact prices of platinum group metals in the long run, Jowitt said. He says while there were surges for sure, those spikes were on top of upward trends.
"COVID actually decreased demand for these metals a little. The prices would well have been higher," Jowitt said, "if they were related to, say, logistical or infrastructure issues in South Africa rather than the the COVID pandemic shutting the South African industry down."
As for the war in Ukraine, Jowitt says there are no sanctions on exports of Russian precious metals, so that production continues.
For perspective, there are about 28 grams in an ounce. A single catalytic converter contains less than 2 grams of rhodium and 2 to 7 grams of palladium or platinum.
Thieves often convert the stolen parts into cash at recycling yards. A concerned mechanic sent 13 Investigates a photo of a large bin filled with what he called "freshly cut" catalytic converters at a local recycling yard.
Jowitt estimates that about 20 to 30 percent of the world's platinum group metal supply comes from legitimate sources: vehicles that have worn out or were totaled in crashes.
What can be done to prevent these thefts?
In November, several months after Dave Gomez's truck was hit, he took pictures on three different days outside his office located just east of downtown.
"He's pushing this right in front of the middle of the street crossing over to Sunrise," Gomez explained. "And his girlfriend is with him pushing mufflers and cats (catalytic converters) inside of a little baby cart while he's got two baskets full of it. And they get down to the Las Vegas Recycling Center down here on Sunrise behind Roy Martin Middle School."
Gomez says part of the solution could be stronger laws limiting the individuals and businesses that can legally sell catalytic converters.
"Regulations, or possibly municipality codes that will cause such a hardship on the person that does these things, that it will change how they look at it and what they do," he said.
STRONGER LAWS? North Las Vegas considers law banning catalytic converter possession
Another part of the solution may eventually come from electric vehicles — which don't have catalytic converters. The more electric cars on the road, the less demand there will be for those precious metals.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department encourages car owners to have the VIN number etched on their catalytic converter. That will help detectives track down potential victims and prosecute cases.
You can also have a mechanic install a plate or cage attached to cover the converter. That could act as a deterrent, because it will take the crook more time to remove the part.
THEFT PREVENTION: Amid rash of thefts, local business offers a way to keep catalytic converters safe from thieves
Law enforcement also hopes to see a legislative fix. Metro tells us they hope to see a new law specific to catalytic converters that could work similar to one passed in 2011 which addressed the surge in copper theft.
Find more in-depth reporting from the 13 Investigates team at ktnv.com/13investigates.
