Towing company tasked with multimillion-dollar catalyst settlement

A Philadelphia towing company has been accused of buying millions of dollars worth of stolen catalytic converters from a network of thieves over three years and reselling them for a profit, local prosecutors announced this week.

The company, TDI Towing, and 11 people were charged in connection with the theft ring, which authorities say was dismantled Tuesday after a nearly year-long investigation by dozens of law enforcement agencies in several jurisdictions.

The investigation found that at the height of the operation, TDI Towing was spending at least $10,000 a night buying stolen converters from thieves, also known as cutters, who cycled through the company’s towing yard with the stolen car parts, it said. the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, which led the investigation.

Investigators found that the yard spent about $8.2 million buying the stolen parts. That amounted to a weekly average of 175 stolen converters bought for $300 each, which equates to about 27,300 units over a three-year period. TDI Towing would then sell the inverters for a profit to an undisclosed buyer.

Generally, stolen converters sold on the black market end up in the hands of recyclers who extract the valuable metals.

The linchpin of the operation was TDI Towing owner Michael Williams, of Philadelphia, Bucks County district attorney Matthew Weintraub said. Mr Williams, 52, was charged with eight felonies, including charges of criminal conspiracy and corrupt organisation. Some charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Prosecutors also charged TDI Towing, the company and several of its employees with criminal conspiracy. Many of the employees, according to prosecutors, had a “family connection” to Mr Williams. Other charges include theft of a catalytic converter and theft by receipt of stolen property.

Ten of the eleven people charged in the case have already been charged. One suspect, Richard Allan Page, 39, of Warminster, Pa., remains at large. Mr. Page is on trial for 13 felonies, including stealing a catalytic converter.

Mr. Williams and his co-defendants were one link in the chain of the illegal trade, Mr. Weintraub said.

Researchers estimated that TDI Towing made an 8 percent profit on every inverter resold to a buyer higher up the chain, Mr. Weintraub said.

Based on that figure, Mr. Williams’ company raised an estimated $655,200 in profit by selling the stolen converters.

Mr. Williams’ attorney, Bruce L. Castor Jr., said on Thursday his client had not yet entered a plea. Online court documents did not list attorneys for the other defendants. A preliminary hearing for the defendants is scheduled for July 5, Mr Weintraub said.

The charges were among the latest to target a type of crime that has seen a significant increase across the country in recent years. Catalytic converters, devices that reduce a vehicle’s harmful emissions, contain the precious rare metals platinum, rhodium and palladium, This is reported by the National Insurance Crime Bureaudetecting car theft and insurance fraud.

The part can be sawn off the belly of a car in minutes and then sold to scrap yards for hundreds of dollars in some cases.

“That’s quite a stroke of luck – $300 and 100 percent profit for these cutters,” said Mr. Weintraub. “As soon as word gets out that if you cut them, you have a place to take them and turn them into hard cash, that word gets out and spreads nonstop like a virus.”

The National Insurance Crime Bureau said there were 64,701 insurance claims for stolen catalytic converters in 2022, compared to 16,660 just two years earlier. It can cost car owners between $1,000 and $3,500 or more to replace them, the organization said.

Authorities have cracked down on the explosive crime.

In November, the Ministry of Justice said it dismantled a thievery ring that spanned several states. In that case, New Jersey-based DG Auto Parts LLC purchased stolen converters and sold them to a metal refiner for “more than $545 million,” according to the Justice Department.

Mr Weintraub said he hoped to get some compensation for people whose converters were stolen, although the sheer size of the case could make it difficult to identify victims.

“At some point, the members of this organization, including the company, will have to decide whether they want to fight this or whether they want to make amends and take criminal responsibility,” Mr Weintraub said. “One of the best ways to recognize criminal responsibility is to pay back as many people as possible.”