Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office offers catalytic converter theft solution

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – It doesn’t take long for thieves to snip off a catalytic converter, and the inconvenience of replacing one isn’t cheap.

“It’s cost our business 50 thousand dollars of people stealing catalytic converters off our lot,” Universal Marine & RV General Manager Rob Benson said.

To prevent further incidents, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office is giving away free kits to mark catalytic converters, so they’re traceable for law enforcement.

“So this is actually what the kit looks like, when you come in this is what you’d be given at the counter,” Capt. James Schueller said as he showed a kit you can use. See the attached video for more detail on the kits.

If you get your kit and don’t want to go through the hassle of installing it yourself. You can head to Universal Marine & RV and they’ll do it for free.

Call: 507-288-4000

The Sheriff’s Office says this process doesn’t guarantee that thieves won’t steal a marked catalytic converter, but it could scare some away.

“Any way we can help, and this seems to be the best stopgap. Maybe the manufacturer will actually put numbers on vehicles from the start when they leave the factory, but in the meantime, this is a step that we can take to go after not just the people who deal with them but also the businesses that buy these converters,” Capt. Schueller said.

The Sheriff’s office received about 200 kits from the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

More information on kits from the Sheriff’s office:

Kits should be registered at www.theisr.org
You will need your vehicle’s VIN number and Minnesota license plate number to register the kit.

The following cars are what the county says are the most at-risk cars for catalytic converter thefts:

Chevrolet Express
Honda Element
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Ford Econoline
Honda Odyssey
Mitsubishi Lancer
Ford F250
Hyundai Santa Fe
Mitsubishi Outlander
Honda Accord
Hyundai Tucson
Toyota Prius Honda
CRV Kia Sportage
Toyota Tundra

Previous stories:

Man arrested in string of catalytic converter thefts

Rochester Police Department reports more catalytic converter thefts over the weekend

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