Catalytic converter theft has arrived in Sackville.
In February, New Brunswick RCMP reported a “rash” of catalytic converter thefts from vehicles in the southeast of the province, but the Sackville area was spared until this month, when a catalytic converted was stolen from a car belonging to Mount Allison student Noah D’Eon.
D’Eon’s car was parked in a university parking lot near his residence, according to a report by Local Journalism Initiative reporter Clara Pasieka, working for the Telegraph Journal. D’Eon discovered what had happened after bringing his car to a local mechanic: someone had cut the exhaust pipe and removed the catalytic converter.
RCMP Cpl. Brian Villers told Pasieka that the parts are often sold for the valuable elements they contain. Villers also said no other reports had been filed in the Sackville area.
The rash of thefts earlier this winter occurred at various times of the day and night in the communities of Bloomfield, Codys, Four Corners, Grand Bay-Westfield, Hampton, Nauwigewauk, Sussex and Welsford. Investigators say found similarities in those instances, with target vehicles being, “fleet vehicles, commercial vehicles parked near businesses and vehicles parked outside residences that appear inoperable.”
Cpl. Jullie Rogers-Marsh with the Grand Bay-Westfield RCMP said in Feburary that, “securing your vehicles in a locked building, when possible, or parking them in a well lit area are some of the easiest ways to deter these types of thefts.”
According to RCMP daily occurrence reports, there have been two “thefts of vehicles” in the Sackville district in the past month, one reported on March 21, and one on March 14.
