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Sep 13, 2023

Columbus man sentenced for stealing over 1,100 catalytic converters

A Columbus man will spend at least eight years behind bars for his role in a

A Columbus man will spend at least eight years behind bars for his role in a theft ring that over the course of about 15 months stole more than 1,100 catalytic converters from vehicles and sold them to recycling companies for over $400,000.

Tommy D. Cox Jr., 42, of the South Side, pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to 15 felony counts, including receiving stolen property, violating metal scrapping law and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. As part of a plea deal, he pleaded in three cases, one of which was unrelated to catalytic converters but involved a 2020 theft. Prosecutors dropped over a dozen other charges.

On Wednesday, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Daniel Hawkins sentenced Cox to an indefinite prison term of eight years to 12 years, the maximum agreed on by prosecutors and defense attorneys in the plea agreement.

Cox has a little over a year of jail credit for time served since police arrested him in March 2022.

Hawkins also ordered Cox to pay a $15,000 fine and court costs, as well as $8,500 in restitution for the unrelated 2020 theft.

Prosecutors believe Cox still has money from this enterprise hidden away and is likely to reoffend once he gets out, Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Ian Jones said.

"He will get out and do the exact same thing," Jones said. "He will have a new hustle. … He's a thug and purely a lifelong criminal."

Previous reporting:Columbus man accused of running catalytic converter theft ring

Jones accused Cox and his codefendants of training and paying people desperate for money or struggling with addiction to cut the valuable part off vehicles, which Cox denies.

Catalytic converters are exhaust emission-control devices that can fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars due to the precious metals they comprise, including palladium, platinum and rhodium. Ohio law permits individuals to sell only one catalytic converter a day.

Prosecutors accuse Cox's girlfriend, Shannon Vance, 47, of forming a limited liability company called TC's Buy/Sell/Trade in November 2020 and using it to sell stolen converters between January 2021 and March 2022.

Vance pleaded guilty in February to one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, and prosecutors dropped other charges. Vance's sentencing is scheduled for March 22.

Grand juries indicted five others on charges in connection to the converter theft ring, which Groveport police first uncovered.

Jones had a lot to say at Cox's sentencing hearing about Cox's lengthy criminal record and said Cox continued to act unlawfully after his arrest.

Jones also accused Cox of sending an associate to his home — and that of the Groveport detective on the case — in an attempt to intimidate them, as well as to threaten people in a homeless camp who may have known about his criminal enterprise.

One of Cox's defense attorneys, Isa Mauch, said Cox denies he sent those individuals.

Jones said Cox has been in and out of prison throughout his life and is a high-ranking member of the Konvicted Family prison gang, as evidenced by the large 'KF' tattoo on his chest.

Mauch said Cox was not involved with the gang during his most recent time in prison in 2016 and no longer wants to associate with the group.

At his sentencing hearing, Cox said drugs clouded his judgment.

"I wish I could apologize to the victims," he said. "I am in no way shape or form proud of what I’ve done."

Mauch said Cox had a childhood marked by instability and grew up on the streets.

"Tommy, someone who grew up in poverty, was trying to start a legitimate business," Mauch said in a sentencing memo filed with the court. "Tommy got carried away in making money selling these converters and looking for more than the junked cars he was able to buy."

Mauch said Cox admits that he was reckless about not ensuring the converters were legally obtained and not stolen.

Jones said Cox is minimizing his crimes and disagreed with Mauch's characterization.

"He trained people to steal these. He would go and steal them with the other criminals," Jones said.

Jones said messages between Cox and some of his codefendants prove this. And after Cox avoided police searching his Dolby Drive home in September 2021, Cox returned to a life of crime in October 2021.

As part of the plea agreement with Cox, prosecutors agreed not to seek a charge related to receiving and transporting a stolen 2020 Sunset Trail camper in Kentucky.

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