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Jul 01, 2023

Thieves steal catalytic converter at senior living center in Riverview

Catalytic converters remain hot items for thieves throughout the Downriver area

Catalytic converters remain hot items for thieves throughout the Downriver area including Riverview, where two commercial vehicles were struck.

The Bellaire Senior Living, 12621 Hale St., reported a theft at its facility on May 18. The facility's manager told the reporting officer that earlier that morning an employee started the transport van and noticed it was much louder than normal.

A maintenance worker looked underneath the van and immediately noticed that the catalytic converter was missing. The officer observed two straight "clean cuts" in the exhaust system where the catalytic converter once was. The officer did not see any metal shavings on the ground, underneath the van.

It was uncertain exactly when the theft took place, since it was last used on May 11.

Another Riverview business reported a similar theft. Riverview Vending, 18350 Fort. St., told police that at about 5:30 a.m. on May 23 an employee noticed the catalytic converter had been removed from one of its work vans.

While the officer was still there taking information about the theft, an employees checked another work van and discovered something was wrong. The employee said the exhaust system sounded different than normal.

Both the employee and officer looked under the van and observed "halfway through clean cuts of the exhaust, near connecting to the engine." The officer noted in his report that it appeared the thief could not get a good angle to cut the rest of the way through the exhaust pipe.

The officer located two security cameras on either side of the building, one of which was in a position to have caught the incident. Police said they would follow up with the business owner in regards to the security cameras.

But Riverview is far from alone when it comes to catalytic converter theft incidents. On May 18 Allen Park police took the report of a victim in the 11000 block of Old Goddard.

The man, who was standing in the parking lot near a tan Ford Escape when an officer arrived, told the officer he parked his vehicle there at about 11 p.m. on May 16. At about 3:30 p.m. on May 18 he started the vehicle and heard a loud noise coming from underneath it. He looked under the Escape and discovered that the catalytic converter had been stolen.

On May 18 Southgate police took a walk-in report of a catalytic converter theft that occurred at Planet Fitness, 13591 Eureka Road.

The victim told police he had been to the gym from about 11 a.m. until noon that day. When he returned to his 2008 Toyota Prius and started it, there was an extremely loud noise coming from underneath the car.

The victim discovered that not only had the catalytic converter been cut off, there was also damage to the wiring.

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