Original Article: “West Coast crime ring busted for trafficking $22 million in stolen catalytic converters” | MyNorthwest |

“Police in Beaverton, Ore. arrested the alleged leader of a crime ring responsible for stealing and trafficking more than 44,000 stolen catalytic converters since January 2021, with an operation that stretched into Washington state and across the entire West Coast.

Detectives say they identified 32-year-old Brennan Patrick Doyle as the operation’s leader. They searched his home on Lake Oswego last week, along with seven other properties, seizing more than 3,000 catalytic converters.

The crime ring was centered in the Portland metro area, but reached as far as New York and Texas, according to Beaverton police spokesperson Matt Henderson.

Catalytic converters became a hot commodity for theft during the pandemic due to the high-priced metals, including platinum, palladium, and rhodium, within them. Rhodium’s worth alone fluctuates from $16,000 to nearly $26,000 an ounce, according to cars.com.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Original article by Taylor Hillo | KSBY | Feb 2, 2022 – Original Article Linked Here

“A Morro Bay mechanic shop owner repeatedly saw his customers fall victim to catalytic converter thefts, so he decided to hit the drawing board.

Bill Todd, owner of Todd’s Garage, had seen all of the other similar devices on the market and decided he could do it better.

“I was actually installing some anti-theft catalytic converters and I was baffled by the design,” Todd said.

He says they were way too hard to install and created issues when a customer would need a smog check.

Cat Armor – what he’s calling his device – is designed to be installed in just three minutes.

“They are really easy to install. You can install them with just one wrench which saves people money and once they’re on, they are extremely hard to take off,” Todd explained.”

Read more here…

Original article by Dave Ross | KIRO Seattle News Radio | Feb 14, 2022 Original Article Linked Here

“Catalytic converter thefts in Washington are out of control lately, but a California garage owner may have come up with a deterrent.

Why aren’t metal theft laws working in Washington state?

“As laid back as I am, I was thinking of slipping a spike strip under the car when I parked just to surprise the thieves,” KIRO Newsradio’s Dave Ross said.

Bill Todd, who owns a garage in Morro Bay, California, has another idea.

“We looked at the current devices that were on the market and, being a smog technician, one of the things I saw was it was pretty difficult to see the catalytic converter once we put the device on to do a smog inspection,” Todd explained. “We were supposed to be able to inspect it. So that was one of the issues I saw.”

“I came up with a design, a stainless steel device that essentially attaches in less than three minutes. I put a video on YouTube showing my son taping me doing it — simple as a 14 millimeter wrench and a three-quarter inch wrench,” he said.”

Read more here…

Original Article by Neil Farrell | Estero Bay News | Jan 28, 2022 – Original Article Linked Here

“Did some scoundrel steal the catalytic converter off your Prius or are you worried someone might?

A Morro Bay businessman has invented a device designed to prevent what’s becoming an ever-growing crime wave.

For the past several years, sneaky thieves have roamed the night, looking mainly for Prius and other hybrid models, shimmying underneath the vehicle with a reciprocating saw to remove the smog reduction devices, and then hocking them for the precious metals found inside.

It’s a crime that normally comes in waves, with thieves stealing dozens at a time and mostly getting away with it. But not always.

Recently, Morro Bay Police with some assistance from Atascadero P.D. caught one of these alleged thieves, a man from Oakland, pretty much red-handed, with some 15 catalytic converters piled into his trunk. Two accomplices managed to avoid arrest and are being sought. And just last week three catalytic converters were stolen in Morro Bay in a single night (see the Police Logs).”

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Original Article by Mayra Franco | KMPH Staff – Feb 7 – Original Article Linked Here

MORRO BAY, Calif. (KMPH) — A father and son auto repair duo in Morro Bay, Calif. is finding new ways to keep up with the demand of its new Cat Armor devices for 2004 to 2017 Toyota Priuses. The devices are said to protect against rising thefts of catalytic converters from vehicles. Caption: FULL STORY: A father and son auto repair in Morro Bay is finding new ways to keep up with the demand of its new Cat Armor devices for 2004-2017 Toyota Prius.{p}{/p}

It’s just him and his son running the shop but after the booming businesses’, they reached out to other shops for help. 

I actually went out to some local shops and just said hey, I can’t install these fast enough. Can you guys start doing them,” said Bill Todd, owner of Todd’s garage and inventor of the device. 

I actually went out to some local shops and just said hey, I can’t install these fast enough. Can you guys start doing them,” said Bill Todd, owner of Todd’s garage and inventor of the device. 

Appointments at the shop are fully booked until March after a large amount of interest from people who heard about his device. 

Todd says it took a full year of designing it, but it’s the start of preventing crimes for owners of those model cars.

Todd visited different shops on Friday to demonstrate to others, how fast and easy it was to install his device.

They’re like no way, no way. They’re like oh my, that is so cool. They were blown away by it. Like it can’t be that simple,” Todd said.

They’re like no way, no way. They’re like oh my, that is so cool. They were blown away by it. Like it can’t be that simple,” Todd said.

“I’ll sell them to you and you can make some money too. You know, just anything to get these out in the cars,” Todd told the all the shops he visited.

Todd says typically anti-theft catalytic converter devices take about an hour to install but his device takes 3 minutes.

He’s also a smog technician and was working that day on a Prius when he noticed the problems other anti-theft devices we’re creating.

So, he decided to invent one with two goals in mind: quick to put on and hard to take off.

Todd says a thief needs just 20 seconds to steal a catalytic converter if they’re fast.

He says his device adds 15 minutes to that time.

“It could be cut off just like any other device but the idea is to make it really noisy for them to do it. Make it where, it’s not just a simple get in there and cut the pipe off. You want to make it where they look at it and say man, I got to cut this off. I have to try to cut this off just to get to that piece. It strictly is a deterrent,” says Todd, “Trust me, you look under the car and see a huge plate. You’re going to move to the next car. Just like my device, you see a plate and you’re like “mmm, there’s something easier down the road right.”

He says his work is not done yet, he’s just getting started.

Todd says Priuses are main targets in catalytic converter thefts because the car is half electric, meaning it contains more valuable metals than catalytic converters on a gas-powered vehicle.

Those stored metals cause thefts to surge because the catalytic converter corrodes less and is more valuable. That’s why Todd decided to focus his first device towards those customers being most affected. 

But, he’s already in the works for other car models too. 

For more information click here. 

Folks can also call 805-772-1985 or email toddsgaragemail@gmail.com to place an order.

The cost total with labor would cost around $262, while the Cat Armor device costs $199 before tax.

Note – this article has been republished here from its original location at MSN.com.