A rash of catalytic converter thefts continue in Cumberland County . Law enforcement responded to Harmony Baptist Church on Cook Road where one was cut off a 2010 Ford van parked there. The sheriff’s department went to Alloway Independent Baptist Church in Grandview where a converter was taken from a van. No suspects were named in either case. Investigators say thieves are targeting vehicles such as vans, trucks or any type they can easily get underneath to cut the catalytic converters off.

Precious metals such as platinum, palladium, rhodium or gold are used in catalytic converters. Depending on which metal was used, thieves can sell the converters to metal recyclers for anywhere from $20 up to $200. The recyclers then extract the metal and resell it for as much as $6,000 an ounce, as in the case of rhodium. While national theft figures are not recorded for catalytic converter theft, the crime has risen in tandem with sharply rising metal prices.