TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Police Department said it caught a man connected to more than a half-dozen burglaries at one car lot, making off with possibly hundreds of catalytic converters.
TPD's Danny Bean told 2 News officers caught their suspect red-handed Monday morning at Paramount Capital Motors near 129th East Avenue and I-44.
"They had just been there an hour prior to that, noticed that the gate was in a different positioned than what it was the last time [the officer] checked it," Bean said. "Then he saw the vehicle which was matching the vehicle description of the suspect, a possible suspect's vehicle that was committing these burglaries."
In security footage captured by the business, police are seen finding a man identified as Robby Harvey already under a car and cuffing him.
The owners of the lot said TPD notified them Wednesday that Harvey has since bailed out but is awaiting charges.
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The owners said off-camera they had been targeted at least seven times in just the last couple of months, adding that the damages just from all the stolen catalytic converters could cost them up to $100,000 to fix, not including gas that was also taken from vehicles.
"It's not the most common [occurrence of catalytic converter thefts], that's for sure. It's usually a little more spread out than that. But apparently, this guy thought that he was comfortable in what he was doing," Officer Bean said.
Bean also pointed out that Tulsa Crime Stoppers offers the free Etch to Protect program, which includes having the VIN number etched into your vehicle's converter to prevent thefts.
He hopes people and businesses continue to take advantage.
"I can tell you from the sheer about of people that Etch to Protect has been able to reach that they've been able to get their catalytic converter etched. It's probably helped a lot," he said.
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