A Tuesday search warrant on two East Bay homes in Richmond and San Pablo resulted in the discovery of more than 700 apparently stolen catalytic converters, as well as 1,100 pounds of copper wire, and $113,000 in cash.
The San Pablo Police Department had apparently received some tips of a catalytic converter theft ring operating in there and other Contra Costa County cities. And so they executed a couple of search warrants Tuesday morning around 8 am. And the hunch proved correct, as KTVU reports that those warrants on two separate homes turned up more than 700 allegedly stolen catalytic converters, plus about a thousand pounds of copper wire, and more than a hundred grand in cash.
“This morning, San Pablo Officers and [Contra Costa County] Deputies served search warrants in the 1700 block of Road 20 (San Pablo) and the 1000 block of Brookside Drive (Richmond),” the San Pablo Police Department said in a Tuesday Facebook post. “As a result of the search warrants, officers seized a significant cache of suspected stolen property, including more than 700 catalytic converters, over 1,100 pounds of copper cable wires, and over $113,000 in US currency.”
Moreover, police allege two of the suspects were involved with “an ongoing criminal enterprise to buy and sell stolen property,” an enterprise they estimate netted $6.4 million in transactions just in the year 2024.
Three suspects overall were taken into custody, though the three have not been named. They’ve been booked into the Martinez Detention Facility on felony charges of grand theft of copper materials, and receiving stolen property.
While arrests have been made, this is still an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call the San Pablo Police Department Investigations Division at (510) 215-3150.
Image: San Pablo Police Department via Facebook
