My older daughter was visiting some friends last Saturday night, she parked her car at the apartment complex and they went out as a group, someone else drove.
They get up Sunday to go get brunch and she notices her car is missing. Assuming the apartment complex had it towed, she called them but they said no.
Call the cops, calls mom. I'm out joyriding the Chevelle for the first time in years... just driving to drive, not to a show, a friends, or even a test drive... just for fun. I'm up in St Francis and have to beeline back now....
Cop comes out and starts getting the info. One of her friends has to leave and takes off. Friend sees a car sitting on the side of the road about a mile away, realizes it's hers and calls. It's on a lesser used highway on ramp. They all go to car, cop goes too.
Car is there, locked, looking unmolested. open car, no signs of anything missing, no sign of lock damage, etc. Start car..... Sounds like my Chevelle very V6-ish and loud. Guess who's cat converter got stolen???
Best we can tell, they used an underbody wheel lift setup like most tow trucks have that grabs around the wheel and raises it up. It would look relatively normal to see something towed from an apartment (and this car looked like it was a savage candidate...). They lift the drive wheels, it free rolls on the others, and it's gone in under a minute. Take it to the on ramp where it would also look un-suspicious, and quickly cut the cat. No close neighbors, and very little traffic. Drop the car and take off, right onto the highway and go on to the next one. I bet they had well under 10 minutes into the whole process.
Car ran tip-top even after, and aside from a fender's rocker molding being disturbed, it was otherwise just missing the car. Even the oxygen sensor was still there and the rear exhaust could still be re-used from flange to tip.
She was already on the fence, and now she has a new-to-her car already at home. They even took the other as a trade-in.
ghaasl said
Aug 18, 2021
That's nuts! Looks like I need to get my tool shed built so I can finally get my pickup into the garage.
Derek69SS said
Aug 18, 2021
I know thieves aren't usually very smart, but that seems like a quick way to add some way more serious charges to the crime.
I'm assuming stealing the cat is a misdemeanor and stealing the whole car a felony.
Derek69SS said
Aug 18, 2021
just looked it up...
gross misdemeanor for value of $500 - $1000 = max 1yr in prison and up to $3k in fines
felony theft for value over $5000 = max 10yrs in prison and up to $20k in fines
jim larson said
Aug 18, 2021
Aren't you glad you live by Byron out in the country, with a big yard light and a locked garage. My dog use to alert me when anyone step on to my city lot. And all the neighbors watch for whats going one.
Chris R said
Aug 18, 2021
On the local Ramsey community facebook page. Someone shared that they had thier cats stolen in the middle of a weekday afternoon in the Costco parking lot. Several witnesses reported seeing a loud truck revving its engine in the parking lot for several minutes. The cops reported that most likely the thieves used the loud exhaust on the engine to mask the sound of the saws being used to cut the cats off. Thieves are very brazen these days. Last month another incident down near Hastings had 2 thieves get busted when thier suspicious activity was noticed by neighbors & the cops were called. They were busted red handed with multiple cats in thier vehicle & several saws with them.
I know several people who have removed the OEM cats off their own vehicles and replaced with aftermarket just to save from any future hassle & the performance of the vehicle remains unchanged.
Funny story:
My older daughter was visiting some friends last Saturday night, she parked her car at the apartment complex and they went out as a group, someone else drove.
They get up Sunday to go get brunch and she notices her car is missing. Assuming the apartment complex had it towed, she called them but they said no.
Call the cops, calls mom. I'm out joyriding the Chevelle for the first time in years... just driving to drive, not to a show, a friends, or even a test drive... just for fun. I'm up in St Francis and have to beeline back now....
Cop comes out and starts getting the info. One of her friends has to leave and takes off. Friend sees a car sitting on the side of the road about a mile away, realizes it's hers and calls. It's on a lesser used highway on ramp. They all go to car, cop goes too.
Car is there, locked, looking unmolested. open car, no signs of anything missing, no sign of lock damage, etc. Start car..... Sounds like my Chevelle very V6-ish and loud. Guess who's cat converter got stolen???
Best we can tell, they used an underbody wheel lift setup like most tow trucks have that grabs around the wheel and raises it up. It would look relatively normal to see something towed from an apartment (and this car looked like it was a savage candidate...). They lift the drive wheels, it free rolls on the others, and it's gone in under a minute. Take it to the on ramp where it would also look un-suspicious, and quickly cut the cat. No close neighbors, and very little traffic. Drop the car and take off, right onto the highway and go on to the next one. I bet they had well under 10 minutes into the whole process.
Car ran tip-top even after, and aside from a fender's rocker molding being disturbed, it was otherwise just missing the car. Even the oxygen sensor was still there and the rear exhaust could still be re-used from flange to tip.
She was already on the fence, and now she has a new-to-her car already at home. They even took the other as a trade-in.
I'm assuming stealing the cat is a misdemeanor and stealing the whole car a felony.
gross misdemeanor for value of $500 - $1000 = max 1yr in prison and up to $3k in fines
felony theft for value over $5000 = max 10yrs in prison and up to $20k in fines
Aren't you glad you live by Byron out in the country, with a big yard light and a locked garage. My dog use to alert me when anyone step on to my city lot. And all the neighbors watch for whats going one.
On the local Ramsey community facebook page. Someone shared that they had thier cats stolen in the middle of a weekday afternoon in the Costco parking lot. Several witnesses reported seeing a loud truck revving its engine in the parking lot for several minutes. The cops reported that most likely the thieves used the loud exhaust on the engine to mask the sound of the saws being used to cut the cats off. Thieves are very brazen these days. Last month another incident down near Hastings had 2 thieves get busted when thier suspicious activity was noticed by neighbors & the cops were called. They were busted red handed with multiple cats in thier vehicle & several saws with them.
I know several people who have removed the OEM cats off their own vehicles and replaced with aftermarket just to save from any future hassle & the performance of the vehicle remains unchanged.