Catalytic Converter Theft Ring Hits Middle Georgia Businesses – $5000 Reward Offered for Information Leading to the Successful Arrest of Criminals
Dateline January 1, 2021: Fort Valley, Macon, and Griffin, GA:
Super Lawn Trucks located in Fort Valley, Georgia has released images of the criminal(s) responsible for stealing over $30,000 worth of catalytic converters from Isuzu N series cab chassis trucks.
The owner of the truck body business, Tony Bass, reports thieves cut the perimeter security fence and entered the property on the evening of December 30, 2020. Video footage and evidence collected from the crime scene appears to show that a tall, skinny male used a reciprocating sawzall with DeWalt branded blades to cut out and remove the catalytic converters from 16 new Isuzu N series trucks.
After discovering the theft had occurred, Tony Bass contacted Middle Georgia Freightliner Isuzu General Manager, Heath Woods, to order replacement parts on December 31, 2020.
That’s when we learned that the Macon based business had suffered the same criminal activity on 13 trucks located on their property. That theft occurred a week earlier, on or about December 24, 2020.
Woods revealed that the Griffin, GA based Supreme Truck body company has been hit as well. Dozens of new work trucks were damaged in this crime.
Bass reports that work truck inventory levels are the lowest since 2009 for his company. Due to manufacturing plant shutdowns and supply chain interruptions from the covid 19 pandemic, work truck inventory is already very low.
Bass adds, “The theft ring is a liability on the balance sheet of The USA. They have delayed the delivery of work trucks to businesses that are an asset on the balance sheet of The USA. We only hope that our law enforcement is successful in identifying this crime ring and putting the criminal(s) in prison.”
Anyone with information about these crimes or similar crimes involving catalytic converter theft are asked to contact Sargent Detective Willie Marshall of the Fort Valley, GA police department at 478-825-3383 or Super Lawn Trucks at 478-822-9704.
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UPDATE 01/06/2021 10:35 am
The following busunesses have also been targeted for catalytic converter theft:
Rush Truck, Smyrna, GA
Bellamy Strickland, McDonough, GA
Graham Spray Body Company, Douglasville, GA
Isuzu Truck of Chattanooga, TN
Tru Green, Various Locations
Aaron’s, Various Locations
This investigation is ongoing and may be an organized crime.
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UPDATE 01/06/2021 8:05 pm
40 Trucks reportedly stripped of catalytic converters at Randy Marion Isuzu in North Carolina including two arrests. Details as they come in.
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UPDATE: 01/07/21 7:06pm
Victims of crimes appreciate engaged law enforcement who will work hard to put criminals behind bars. But we understand that it takes a serious investment of time to investigate the large number of cases assigned to each detective or officer. So we thought it would be helpful to share our research/information with those who have already suffered and alert those who may be a target of catalytic converter theft in the near future.
The work we have done to build awareness of this series of crimes has lead us to publish this latest update.
Here is the connection to THIS LIST of victims:
1) all of the victims take delivery of and store NEW Isuzu or Chevy gas-powered cab forward trucks.
2) the trucks are delivered by the same delivery company
3) the catalytic converters appear to be removed by sawzall
4) many of these thefts took place just before or just after a holiday or weekend
5) you will find that most of these victims have these trucks stored in a fenced in area
6) these trucks are delivered to these locations as incomplete vehicles….that is…the chassis does not have a body on it. It makes it very easy to access the catalytic converters with a sawzall. It takes less than 60 seconds to remove ONE catalytic converter on these trucks with a sawzall.
7) these companies are located across a wide geographic area of the state and have NO OVERLAP of police jurisdiction
8) most of these companies are closed on the weekends and at night.
9) many of these victims have security systems and security cameras
10) it is clear that these robberies are part of a coordinated and planned effort to target companies who work on or with Isuzu gas-powered trucks.
I hope you find this information helpful.
I am requesting that the GBI be asked to help coordinate and investigate these crimes.
Based on the quantity of trucks that have been affected, this has a cost today of over $200,000 in damages in 30 days.
We will continue to update this webpage and share information with the public.
We want to remind the public of the $5000 reward posted for information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of these criminals.
Please contact Willie Marshall of the Fort Valley Police Department at 478-825-3383 or wmarshall@fortvalleyusa.com if you have any information about ANY of these crimes. .
Tony Bass, founder
Super Lawn Trucks
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UPDATE: 01/08/21 9:00am
Security Cam Photos of Suspect Released:
Graham Spray Equipment in metro-Atlanta reports 26 trucks being burglarized of their catalytic converters. According to the business owner, 20 trucks were hit by the cat burglar on Sunday, November 29, 2020 and 6 trucks hit early Tuesday morning September 8, 2020, both holiday weekends. As seen in the security camera photos, the get-away car appears to have been a 7th generation Nissan Maxima (2009-2015) and burgundy in color. The suspect appears to be a thin male and may walk with a limp as seen in security video footage.
