There's precious metal under your vehicle, and thieves are targeting it

You go out to the parking lot or driveway to start your car, and something doesn't seem right. It's much louder than usual and the check engine light is on.

Behind the wheel, things feel sluggish, and before long you've got a headache.

What's going on? You may be the victim of a costly and fast-growing crime: the theft of vehicle catalytic converters.

A part of the exhaust system that converts toxic gases and pollutants in gasoline-burning engines to less toxic pollutants, catalytic converters have been targeted by thieves at unprecedented rates to get at their valuable and rare components.

According to a March report from the Des Plaines-based National Insurance Crime Bureau, there were on average 108 catalytic converter thefts reported per month in the U.S. in 2018. That more than doubled to 282 a month in 2019, then skyrocketed to 1,203 per month in 2020 - a more than 1,000% increase from just two years earlier.

Tully Lehman, senior public affairs manager for the bureau, said the increase corresponded with a surge in the price of rhodium, a rare, silver-white metallic element used in catalytic converters.

According to the data-tracking site Trending Economics, rhodium was selling for $2,065 an ounce in May 2018. Three years later, in May 2021, its price had reached $29,500 an ounce.

Besides catalytic converters, rhodium is used as a catalyst for producing nitric and acetic acids in the chemical industry, a protective coating on jewelry and a glass-strengthening alloy.

“It correlated perfectly with (the price increase in) rhodium,” Lehman told us this week of the jump in thefts. “You could almost overlay the graphs down on top of each other. You can see it's just a perfect match.”

While the price of rhodium has dipped from its 2021 peak, “we're still well above where it's of interest to people who are wanting to steal,” he said.

Toyota Priuses are particularly attractive to thieves, according to a 2021 report from the Highway Safety Data Institute, because their converters contain more of the precious metals.

But, as seen in a recent spate in Elmhurst, thieves also target trucks - 17 converters were stolen one night in December at a business in the city. And dealership lots are frequent targets, since thieves can swipe multiple catalytic converters in one, often unguarded location.

If thieves and black-market dealers are getting rich off stolen catalytic converters, then car owners and their insurers are paying the price. Replacing one can cost $1,500 to $3,000 - and perhaps even more, if the thief damages other parts of the vehicle while cutting out the converter.

And it takes only a few minutes for a thief to cut off your converter.

Preventing the theft

So, what can you do to keep your catalytic converter under your car where it belongs?

If you have a garage, clear the junk out and park your car in it, multiple police agencies recommend.

But even that's no guarantee, Lehman said.

“We have heard stories where people have been awakened in the middle of night by a noise in the garage and they went down and found someone had broken in to take the catalytic converter,” Lehman said. “So, it's not perfect, but at least it does slow it down.”

Other suggestions:

If you have to park on the driveway, get a motion-sensor light that will illuminate the area if someone approaches your vehicle at night.

Get an audible alarm that can sense if someone is underneath or jacking up your vehicle.

Install an anti-theft device that will lock your converter in place and make it much more difficult and time-consuming to remove.

Engrave your vehicle identification number in the painted surface, making it more easily traceable and harder to move on the black market.

One more thing

State lawmakers addressed the surge in thefts last year, when they passed House Bill 0106. The measure, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Dec. 10, requires that anyone selling a used catalytic converter must show two sources of identification to the buyer, including a driver's license or state ID. The buyer is required to keep a record of the date of the sale and the name and address of the seller.

The Illinois legislature was one of 26 nationwide to take up bills last year aimed at curbing catalytic converter thefts, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

New sentence for ex-cop

A retired Chicago cop convicted of the 2017 killing of his wife in their Spring Grove home will be heading back to a McHenry County courtroom for a new sentencing hearing.

Lorin Volberding initially was sentenced in 2020 to 50 years in prison for the fatal shooting of his wife, Elizabeth Volberding, during an argument on her 68th birthday.

However, a state appeals court ruled last week that the judge who sent Volberding to prison considered improper factors in deciding the sentence.

A new sentencing date has not yet been scheduled for Volberding, who's now 77 years old.

Reptile case update

A Villa Park woman will not have to forfeit her dozens of reptiles before she goes to trial in March on charges she neglected and treated them cruelly.

DuPage County Judge Paul Marchese ruled Monday that prosecutors filed their petition for forfeiture too late. Seventy-five days too late.

Sixty-five snakes and other reptiles were removed by authorities from an Addison property Feb. 12, 2021, during a federal raid in an unrelated case. Shelby Ortiz-Becci had leased space after a fire damaged her home.

When police and federal agents found the reptiles, five were dead and others were suffering from emaciation, thermal burns, anemia and other maladies, prosecutors said. The reptiles have been in the care of members of the Chicago Herpetological Society ever since.

Becci is scheduled to face trial March 22.

Remembering a tragedy

Feb. 15 is the third anniversary of the shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, where a man killed five of his co-workers, shot five Aurora police officers, and killed himself.

Today, the Aurora Historical Society pays tribute to the victims with a temporary exhibit of the impromptu memorials set up at the site. The centerpiece is the five crosses erected by late Aurora carpenter Greg Zanis, who traveled the nation erecting such crosses at the sites of tragedies.

The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 26. The display is on the second floor of the Pierce Art and History Center, 20 E. Downer Place. It is open from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.