Man Jailed For Stealing Car Parts From Vehicles All Over Queens

WHITESTONE, QUEENS -- A Whitestone man will spend a year behind bars for stealing the catalytic converters out from under more than a dozen vehicles parked along the streets of several Queens neighborhoods.

Michael Cipriati, 34, was sentenced in Queens Supreme Court on Monday after he pleaded guilty last month to swiping the parts from at least 15 cars - often pawning them to a Bronx recycling shop - between late October and early December, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.

“With the price of scrap metal continuing to increase, this mechanically-inclined defendant brazenly stole the parts and then sold them to a recycling facility in the Bronx for cash," Brown said.

In the converter-swiping spree, Cipriati stripped the parts from vehicles parked in Flushing, Astoria, Long Island City, College Point, Jackson Heights, Little Neck and Sunnyside Gardens, according to the charges. Targets ranged from a Ford Econoline van to a Mercedes Benz to a Toyota Prius.

Aside from being seen swiping the car parts, Cipriati's cell phone records traced him back to the areas where they were swiped, charges state. He sold at least 11 of the vehicles' converters to Alpha Recycling in the Bronx the same day they went missing.

Cipriati pleaded guilty to second-degree auto stripping.

Lead photo via Shutterstock.