Vehicle Part Stolen at Moyer Lumber Kutztown Yard

KUTZTOWN PA – A catalytic converter was stolen from a vandalized vehicle at the Kutztown location of A.D. Moyer Lumber sometime during the week preceding Thursday (Jan. 26), Pennsylvania State Police from the Troop L Barracks in Reading reported.

The company also operates at properties in Gilbertsville, where it maintain headquarters; Pottstown, and Bethlehem PA, but none of them were reported as similarly affected.

Troopers said they were called Thursday morning to the Kutztown yard to investigate the theft of the converter from a 2019-model Isuzu. It had been cut from the vehicle by an unknown actor sometime between Jan. 18 (Wednesday) at midnight and Thursday at 9:20 a.m., they said. The thief successfully fled the scene with the converter “by unknown means,” according to the report.

Catalytic converters change harmful vehicle emission compounds like nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide into safe gases before being released into the atmosphere as exhaust, the Universal Technical Institute states. The conversion process in part relies on precious metals that include rhodium, palladium, and platinum.

Converter thefts have become increasingly common in recent years, as the value of their precious metals brings a high return in the scrap market, experts say.

Graphic provided by the Pennsylvania State Police