Crime & Safety
3 Arrested In San Bruno Catalytic Converter Theft
Three men were arrested Saturday while they tried to remove a catalytic converter from a parked car in San Bruno, according to police.
SAN BRUNO, CA — San Bruno police officers arrested three men early Saturday morning as they were allegedly trying to remove the catalytic converter from the bottom of a parked car.
The three men - a 23-year-old San Francisco man, a 21-year-old San Francisco man and a 19-year-old South San Francisco man - were seen by a patrol officer about 1:25 a.m. Saturday in the area of Crystal Springs Road and Crestmoor Drive, "tampering with a parked vehicle."
The officer detained the trio without incident, police said.
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The three suspects, police said, were arrested on suspicion of attempted grand theft and criminal conspiracy.
San Bruno, and San Mateo County in general, have experienced a significant increase in catalytic converter thefts over the past few weeks, police said. Such thefts have been going on regionally, and nationally for years; the converters - designed to make the exhaust pushed through them less toxic - contain three metals (platinum, palladium and rhodium) that can fetch good money from recyclers.
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Anyone with information related to this case is urged to contact the San Bruno Police Department at (650) 616-7100 or to email sbpdtipline@sanbruno.ca.gov. Information can be left anonymously.
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