The flight reports of catalytic converters in Fresno dropped 60% after the federal authorities arrested a man who sold thousands of stolen cars for a profit of more than $ 2.5 million.
Federal prosecutors announced on Thursday the spectacular drop in the flights reported after condemning George Thomas, 72, who was charged in 2023 of interstate transport of stolen goods and other crimes. He risks a maximum of 10 years in prison when he was sentenced.
Thomas was a prolific dealer of catalytic converters, who are very precious because they are partly made from precious metals such as platinum and palladium, which can be sold for hundreds, even thousands of dollars per ounce on the black market.
Catalytic converters have terrorized Californians for years, certain meetings becoming violent when car owners fall on thieves in action. Actor Johnny Wactor was shot dead by thieves last year after they came across them, trying to steal the catalytic converter from his Toyota Prius in downtown Los Angeles, and a man was fatally killed in February for having faced two suspect thieves in Inglewood.
Thomas did not commit the flights himself, but worked with many converters thieves he would meet in the shopping centers and motel car parks to buy the stolen goods, prosecutors said.
He gave thieves instructions on the parts of the car he was looking for and how to cut the converter of the vehicle.
Thomas tried to cover his illegal activity by taking photos of the sellers of the converters, asking them to identify and record the identification numbers of the vehicles for each sale. He also made the sign of paperwork thieves saying that the converters were not stolen. But the investigators found that more than half of the wines did not correspond to the cars that the converters could have come.
Thomas then led California converters to an Oregon scrap store where he sold the converters for a total of $ 2.7 million.
To catch Thomas, the federal investigators had an infiltrated agent to present themselves as a converter thief who wanted to sell in Thomas and make sure that Thomas knew that the parties he bought were illegal.
The Undercover met Thomas to sell the converters and explained how they were acquired.
“I got these small joints that steal me,” said infiltration, according to a transcription of a recording taken at the meeting.
Thomas was no other.
“I don’t care about where you get the converters,” he said.
California Daily Newspapers
