On Tuesday, Aug. 23, four Toyota pickup trucks were burglarized; suspects were able to make their way under the trucks and steal their catalytic converters, campus police said.
The thefts occurred between the hours of 8 A.M. and 1 P.M. There was no damage done to the vehicles and no one was anyone injured during the thefts. The catalytic converter is a piece of equipment used to clean noxious exhaust fumes from the engine via a chemical reaction induced by a catalyst.
It is the materials used to create this reaction that make the converters so valuable. Precious metals such as platinum, palladium and rhodium are highly valuable and even though there are only a few grams of the metal in the parts themselves, thieves can make up to $200 from one part by selling it for scrap.
“The theft of a catalytic converter is considered a grand theft crime,” said Campus Police Deputy Ruiz. “It’s about an $800 to $1000 part to replace,” said Ruiz.
There are two reasons that these older model trucks are being targeted; first and foremost, the converter is only held on to the vehicle by four bolts, making it easy to remove. “The second reason is that the Toyota model has very high clearance; someone in broad daylight can go under the truck and not be seen,” said Ruiz.
Campus police recommends that students with Toyota trucks that were not made within the last ten years go see a mechanic and get a professional opinion on how easy it may be to steal the converter. Some solutions can include getting bolts with different heads that require a specialty tool to remove.
“Any other students who see people going under cars or acting suspiciously within the parking lot [should] notify us immediately, because we do believe it is linked to some sort of criminal activity. Specifically, the theft of these catalytic converters,” said Ruiz.
Students can reach the campus police via cell phone, (661) 722-6399 or by dialing Ext. 4444 from any campus phone; there are also blue emergency phones in the parking lot. The campus sheriff’s office is staffed all day everyday.
-by Joshua Sanchez
