Three Chicago men charged in three-county catalytic converter theft ring
Warning: getimagesize(): Filename cannot be empty in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 139
Warning: Division by zero in /usr/web/cs-washington.ogdennews.com/wp-content/themes/News_Core_2023_WashCluster/includes/single/strategically_placed_photos_article.php on line 142
Three men from Chicago are accused of operating a catalytic converter theft ring in Fayette and two other Southwestern Pennsylvania counties.
State police filed charges Tuesday against Antonio Dewayne Johnson, 36, Christian Buie, 31, and Harold T. Wade, 29, all of Chicago, before Magisterial District Judge Nathan Henning.
According to the criminal complaint filed in their cases, the men were involved in numerous catalytic-converter thefts in multiple communities in Fayette, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties between Nov. 20 and Jan. 21.
Police responded Dec. 6 to Jim Shorkey Auto Dealership along Pittsburgh Road in North Union Township, where 20 catalytic converters had been removed from Mitsubishi Outlander Sport vehicles, causing an estimated $70,000 in damage.
Surveillance video showed two people in a 2022 silver Chevrolet Equinox enter the dealership at about 3 a.m. and use cutting tools to remove the catalytic converters. The service supervisor found a catalytic converter and Diablo brand cutting blade next to a vehicle as well as another cutting blade on the lot.
North Huntingdon police investigated the theft of 15 catalytic converters from Mitsubishi Outlanders at the Jim Shorkey Mitsubishi dealership along Route 30 in North Huntingdon on Dec. 5.
Police in Moon Township were also investigating the theft of several catalytic converters from several tow trucks in the area on Dec. 3. In those thefts, Diablo cutting blades were left behind. Surveillance footage showed two men cutting the catalytic converters from the tow trucks.
Police reviewed video surveillance from several businesses leading from the Uniontown crime scene in which the license plate on the Chevrolet Equinox could be seen and found to be registered to Avis Budget Rental in Monroeville.
A search warrant was obtained for the rental agreement, which revealed the vehicle was rented in Washington, D.C., by a woman from Chicago on Dec. 1 and returned to the Avis Budget Rental in Monroeville on Dec. 7.
State police and police in North Huntington and Moon Township obtained search warrants and court orders to receive cellphone numbers, which led them to Johnson.
Police obtained Johnson’s driver’s license photo and matched it to a surveillance image of him at a Sheetz near the Moon Township theft site.
Videos on Johnson’s social media account showed a man with him who was identified as Wade. Wade and Buie were charged in 2015 with the theft of catalytic converters.
Investigators learned that Johnson, Wade and Buie were staying at a rental home in Pittsburgh, and a court order was obtained Friday to place a tracking device on a 2022 Nissan Rogue that was being driven by Johnson. The three were tracked to various locations in Allegheny County including a Home Depot, where they purchased Diablo reciprocating saw blades.
Police stopped the Nissan Rogue on Saturday as they tracked it through three counties and found Johnson and Wade; both men fled on foot and were apprehended. Buie was arrested at the rental home.
Police found 17 catalytic converters in the Rogue.
All three men were arraigned Sunday in Westmoreland County and are lodged in the Westmoreland County Prison without bond.
They are scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Wayne Gongaware at 10 a.m. Feb. 1 and before Henning at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 6.