(Forsyth County, GA) The Cumming Police Department is asking the public for help in identifying two men who stole a catalytic converter from a vehicle belonging to a local nonprofit.
Creative Enterprises is an organization that provides life skills training, social training and job opportunities to people with disabilities. Placement Specialist Cassi Dillon said this is the second catalytic converter theft from the organization.
Dillon said that on the morning of Friday, June 10, their adult camp group was supposed to go on an outing using the organization’s white bus. But when volunteers went out to get the bus ready to leave, it started making an “awful noise.”
“And we recognized that noise from before so we checked and … the catalytic converter was missing and then we checked our cameras from the night before,” Dillon said.
The cameras showed two men appearing to be stealing the catalytic converter from the white bus and driving off in a black vehicle. Dillon said they specifically put up the cameras due to the similar theft from last year. She believes the theft took place the night before on Thursday, June 9.
Police Chief David Marsh said they weren’t able to get the license plate numbers from the video and are asking the public for help identifying the two men.
“That's why we're hoping somebody would recognize them,” Marsh said. “Unfortunately, the video doesn't get a picture of the tag and we’re hoping someone will recognize them but unfortunately, that hasn't happened yet. We haven't gotten a real workable leads on that.”
The theft is just one of several that have hit Forsyth County over the past few weeks.
Other catalytic converter thefts
Not far from Creative Enterprises is Jason Taylor Moving & Storage Inc. Voted the “Best of Forsyth” for “Best Moving Company” in 2021, the business was also a victim of theft last week.
On that same Friday morning, General Manager Holly Taylor said some of their employees went to start the trucks but also heard a weird noise.
“You can start it but it's so loud when the catalytic converters are cut that they could tell something was wrong,” Taylor said. “So they came in and talked to our dispatcher about it. He went out there, took a look under the truck and everything and saw that it had been cut. So out of the four trucks that we had parked outside of the gate, three had the catalytic converters cut and stolen off of them.”
The thefts happened just out of view of the company’s cameras. Taylor said she believes it might be the same people who were involved in the Creative Enterprise theft due to the location and timing.
Meanwhile, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office also reported similar incidents.
Public Information Officer Stacie Miller listed the following cases:
- On May 30, Troncalli Dealership on Atlanta Highway reported that the catalytic converters had been stolen off nine of its vehicles. It has been determined that the incident happened between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on May 28.
- On June 6, Gibbs Landscape Company on 595 James Road reported that the catalytic converters were stolen from two of its vehicles.
- On June 11, a private citizen reported that the catalytic converter had been stolen off his 2004 Ford F250. The truck had been parked at West Forsyth Storage Unit on 4630 Canton Highway for about six weeks.
Suspects and vehicle descriptions are unknown in all of these cases. All of the cases are open and active.
Past catalytic converter thefts
This is not the first time Forsyth County fell victim to a series of catalytic converter thefts.
The Forsyth County News reported that a man was indicted on March 9, 2021 for seven counts of theft concerning catalytic converters, among other charges.
The Sheriff’s Office told FCN at the time that they had been receiving complaints of stolen catalytic converters for months.
On March 12, 2021, Fox News reported a string of thefts in Rome, GA where thieves took catalytic converters from local businesses, medical transports and even church vehicles.
Anyone with information on the suspects in these crimes can contact the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office at 770-781-2222 or the Cumming Police Department at 770-781-2000.
If you have a news tip in Forsyth County, contact Justine Lookenott at justine.lookenott@newsbreak.com.
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