Several catalytic converters stolen from local auto shop Marty Edwards has been in business for 13 years and never saw an issue with his lot until last week. (WPXI)

NEW STANTON, Pa. — Marty Edwards has been in business for 13 years and never saw an issue with his lot until last week.

“Nothing like this has just never happened here. It’s a nice, quiet neighborhood, but I guess they’ll go anywhere for titanium that’s in those,” Edwards said.

“When we come in the next morning, we discovered that Mercedes had a pipe hanging down, which made us go look at all the cars,” Edwards said.

Three vehicles were hit at his shop, Arona Auto Care on Arona Road.

Pipes were left sitting on the ground, with their catalytic converters sawed off and stolen.

“It’s hard to identify the titanium once it’s cut out of the converter. They cut them apart, take the precious metals and then they sell those to who knows where; somebody buys them,” Edwards said.

Marty said they targeted vehicles that sit higher off the ground so they didn’t need a jack to lift them up, including a high-priced Mercedes-Benz SUV.

“This has one cat (catalytic converter) on it that they took, it has dual cats, something must’ve startled them and they left,” Edwards said.

Catalytic converters can cost over $1000 to replace.

State police are investigating, but they said they see an uptick of catalytic converter thefts when the cost of precious metals goes up.

“Whenever the price of rare metals and recyclables goes up, unfortunately, it’s a crime that sort of falls along with it, so if you see people out and about it can literally happen in just a few seconds,” Trooper Steve Limani said.

“Then you got the labor, they also cut other parts getting it off so you got to fix the whole car, which runs into a lot of money; and if you have a high-sitting SUV, be careful where you park it, is all I can tell you,” Edwards said.

Edwards put up all new cameras and a security system that will alert him when someone shows up after hours.

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