Novato Fencing Operation Bust Yields Over 300 Cat Converters

NOVATO, CA — A report from an alert witness led to the arrest of two Novato suspects Wednesday in connection with a catalytic converter fending operation, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Deputies were dispatched to Novato Self Storage on Binford Road in Novato on the report of someone seen cutting up exhaust parts in one of the storage units, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies upon arrival found two suspects cutting up catalytic converters according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The suspects were identified as Abner Deleon Cifuentes and his long-term girlfriend Elizabeth Herrera, both of Novato, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies found several hundred catalytic converters at the scene along with evidence that many more had been previously disassembled, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Marin County Auto Theft Taskforce investigators believe catalytic converters were stolen, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deleon Cifuentes and Herrera were unable to produce records (as required by law) showing where and from who each catalytic converter was received, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deleon Cifuentes and Herrera were subsequently arrested and booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of multiple charges including possession of stolen property and failure to maintain records related to the purchase or receipt of used catalytic convertors, the Sheriff’s Office said.

With the assistance of the Marin County Specialized Investigative Unit, a search warrant was served at Deleon Cifuentes and Herrera’s two storage units in unincorporated Novato and their Novato residence, the Sheriff’s Office said.

More than 300 catalytic converters were recovered, of which more than 60 were from Toyota Prius’, catalytic converter thieves’ favorite targets, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Receipts located during the search warrant indicated Deleon Cifuentes and Herrera had been selling the catalytic converters to a recycler in Southern California, the Sheriff’s Office said.

The receipts showed they had sold over 2,500 catalytic converters since January 2021 and received several hundred thousand dollars from those sales, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Over the past year the Sheriff’s Office has seen a large increase in reports of the theft of Catalytic converters.

This investigation is ongoing.