Published: April 17, 2008 10:52 pm      

Police arrest five in catalytic converter thefts

Five people have been arrested in two separate catalytic converter thefts, and Raleigh County sheriff’s detectives say police are working to combat a “nightly” crime.

Billy Jack Smith, 23, of Midway, was charged with destruction of property, fleeing on foot, receiving/concealing stolen property and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, according to Detective Sgt. Jim Bare.

Billy Price, 25, of Coal City, was charged with two counts of destruction of property, fleeing on foot, two counts of receiving/concealing stolen property and two counts of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor, Bare said. Tiffany Dawn Price, 24, of Coal City, was charged with two counts of destruction of property, two counts of receiving/concealing stolen property and two counts of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor.

In a separate case, Nicholas Dale Bragg, 21, of Beckley, and Jeremy Allen Sanger, 25, of Hilltop, were charged with grand larceny and conspiracy to commit a felony, Bare said.

All suspects except Smith were being held at Southern Regional Jail. Smith was apparently released on bond.

Around 11 p.m. Wednesday, two men were seen underneath a vehicle in the WVVA-TV parking lot off Industrial Park Drive in Beaver, Bare said. After deputies arrived and extensively searched the area, Smith, Billy Price and Tiffany Price were taken into custody.

Apparently, Tiffany Price had driven Billy Price and Smith to the adjacent Raleigh County Emergency Operations Center building, Bare said. She waited in the car while the two men went to WVVA. There, they sawed a Jeep’s catalytic converter off with a battery-powered reciprocating saw, Bare said. The Jeep was a business vehicle, registered to Friends of Channel 9.

Once deputies arrived, they immediately took Tiffany Price into custody, Bare said. The men had apparently seen police officers descending on the area and fled into the woods. There, they ditched the stolen catalytic converter. They were caught on Airport Road.

Inside the car, deputies recovered a second stolen catalytic converter, Bare said. It had been stolen earlier from a vehicle parked at Williams Industrial Park in Bradley.

In the second case, the charges against Bragg and Sanger stemmed from a Jan. 15 theft, Bare said. Both were charged with cutting catalytic converters from six cars at Ken Williams Body Shop in Beckley. They admitted to some of the thefts at the New River Drive business.

Bragg and Sanger were already in jail, Bare noted, after a joint investigations by the sheriff’s department and Beckley police, who charged both with similar crimes in February.

Catalytic converters are devices located in a vehicle’s underbody and are components of exhaust systems. They are used to convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, reducing toxins in vehicle exhaust.

Because the converters contain both platinum and rhodium, two expensive metals, police have said thieves are targeting scores of vehicles everywhere — even ones parked in broad daylight and with several people nearby.

Bare said the thefts seemingly slowed down after Beckley police made arrests earlier in the month, but they then accelerated.

“After that, it was almost nightly that catalytic converters were being stolen,” he said.

Bare said police have stepped up their efforts.

“We are out there. We’re not just sitting around and waiting for reports to come in,” he said. “We want to get these people prior to these acts. The law enforcement community is a lot more aware, and we are definitely on the lookout.”

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