By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE — The sound of a loud malfunctioning vehicle exhaust system provided an unpleasant morning wakeup call for a woman living in the 3200 block of Elizabeth Avenue the morning of March 11, which alerted her to the overnight theft of her 2012 Ford Escape’s catalytic converter.
The vehicle, which was parked overnight on the street, had fresh cut marks on the exhaust pipe.
Catalytic converters are attractive targets to thieves because they contain precious metals, including platinum, palladium and rhodium, which can be sold to scrap metal dealers for up to $200 per unit.