What we know about TDI Towing and the Philadelphia-based catalytic converter theft ring

Last week, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced the dismantling of a multimillion dollar catalytic converter theft ring operating out of a Philadelphia tow yard.

The nearly yearlong sting by more than two dozen law enforcement agencies across Pennsylvania and New Jersey resulted in charges against 10 adults — including Michael Williams, the owner and operator of Northeast Philadelphia tow yard TDI Towing — and an unidentified 17-year-old.

Days after the sting was announced, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office set up a hotline where car owners whose catalytic converters have been stolen in Bucks County can report the theft.

“We set it up because we have been getting lots of calls, and this makes it easier to track possible victims of these crimes. Matching the victims to TDI Towing will take some investigation from our detectives,” said Manuel Gamiz, spokesperson for Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.

Law enforcement officials have said that they are looking into other organizations in the Philadelphia region and in the city itself, where catalytic converter theft is even more prevalent.

Here’s what we know and don’t know about the Philadelphia-based catalytic converter theft ring that stole thousands of the parts in Bucks County, how the theft works, and what drives it.

A catalytic converter is an emissions-control device that reduces the amount of harmful pollution in car exhaust by converting toxic pollutants into carbon dioxide and water. It is usually bolted to a car’s exhaust pipe under the car.

Catalytic converters are valuable targets for thieves because of the precious metals they contain: palladium, platinum, and rhodium.

The rare metals fetch high prices in the resale market. The current price for approximately 31 grams of platinum is $918, $1,256 for that amount of palladium, and a whopping $4,000 for that amount of rhodium, according to Johnson Matthey, a British chemical and technology company.

Thieves called “cutters” will jack up a car and slide underneath, often using a battery-powered saw to shear the catalytic converter from the car. Thieves have grown so skilled that they often cut the car parts in broad daylight.

Thieves will sell stolen catalytic converters to people or organizations that are buying them, said District Attorney Matt Weintraub.

It was an open secret that TDI Towing was actively seeking catalytic converters, and the organization paid an average of $300 to thieves for each stolen part, he said.

The catalytic converters are then often taken to refineries to be melted down to extract the metals.

The metals can be sold for a steep profit. Williams and TDI Towing sold the metals for an average 8% profit, Weintraub said.

Elevated trucks are often easy targets for thieves, who don’t need to use a jack to access the catalytic converter. Hybrid cars such as Toyota Priuses are also prized targets because catalytic converters in hybrid cars contain more of the precious metals.

Nationwide, trucks in Ford’s F-series, Honda Accords, and Priuses are targeted most for catalytic converter theft, according to Carfax.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Pennsylvania, Honda CR-Vs, F-series trucks, and Accords are the most targeted cars.

At least 2,000 catalytic converters were stolen from Bucks County between 2020 and 2023, said Weintraub. But such thefts are hard to track and the number is likely much higher, Gamiz said.

The majority of those thefts are suspected to have been orchestrated by TDI Towing and its employees, Weintraub said.

At the peak of its operation, TDI Towing was paying thieves as much as $10,000 a night for stolen catalytic converters, he said. Over three years, TDI Towing purchased an average of 175 catalytic converters a week, or 27,300, during the three-year span.

TDI employees paid thieves nearly $8.2 million, or an average $300 per catalytic converter, Weintraub said.

Four “cutters” were charged in the bust and one employee also worked as a cutter on the side, Weintraub said.

At the news conference Tuesday announcing the bust of TDI Towing and the 11 individuals charged, Weintraub made an open call to people who had been victims of catalytic converter theft.

On Friday, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced it had set up a hotline for potential victims to report their stolen catalytic converter at 215-340-8899. The office also created a form where potential victims in Bucks County can report their loss.

The District Attorney’s Office will need to investigate each claim to determine whether the theft is linked to the TDI Towing ring, Gamiz said.