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Rash of stolen catalytic converters continues; 19 in two weeks

For the second week in a row, another nine Toyota pickup and Toyota 4Runner owners woke up Monday to find their catalytic converters stolen.

That makes 19 catalytic converter thefts in the past two weeks from various points around the Valley - all from late 1990s or early 2000s Toyotas. After the nine that were stolen last week, a 10th owner discovered his converter gone after his car failed to start the first couple of days.

He reported the theft on Thursday, May 12, when a tow truck came to get his car in the 17900 block of Los Banos Drive. When the tow truck lifted the car, the owner noticed the exhaust pipe hanging with nothing attached. The man told deputies he last drove the 1997 Toyota T100 pickup truck on Sunday, May 8. The thief or thieves unbolted the converter and left the bolts behind.

On Monday, May 16, the city police and Valley substation again received a rash of calls with a total of nine converters stolen - three in the Springs and six in Sonoma.

In the Valley, deputies received the first call at about 7:30 a.m. from a resident in the 18800 block of School Street. The victim said that sometime overnight, someone cut out the converter from his 1993 Toyota T100 that was parked in his driveway.

At 8:51 a.m., a resident in the 100 block of Tuscany Place reported that the converter from his 1999 Toyota Tacoma was unbolted and stolen while it was parked in an outdoor parking area.

A third call came in at 11:34 a.m. from a resident in the 900 block of Grove Street who came to the Valley substation to report that her 1992 Toyota 4Runner, which was parked in the street, had the converter stolen sometime overnight. The thief or thieves left the nuts and bolts behind.

City police were busier with six converters stolen over the weekend.

At 9:16 a.m. Monday, a resident in the 200 block of Wilking Way reported that the converter was stolen from his 1999 Toyota Tacoma while it was parked in his driveway. The converter was cut out.

At 10:57 a.m., a resident in the 100 block of West MacArthur Street reported that the converter on his 1995 4Runner that was parked in the driveway, was unbolted.

A resident in the 500 block of Este Madera called at 1:05 p.m. to report that somebody cut the converter from his 1997 4Runner that was parked in the driveway.

At 7:53 p.m., a resident in the 700 block of Second Street East reported that the converter was cut from her 1998 4Runner that was parked in the driveway.

A resident in the 400 block of East Walnut reported at 8:04 p.m., that somebody cut the converter from his 1998 Tacoma that was parked in the street.

The final report came in at 11:44 p.m. in the 700 block of First Street West, but the report hadn't been written by Tuesday afternoon.