Police Reports: Catalytic Converter Gone in 60 Seconds

Just how fast can you squirm under a car and hack off the most valuable part of its exhaust system? Pretty darn fast, with a sawzall.

At 11:48 a.m. Wednesday, a Wauwatosa woman reported that she had just witnessed a man stealing the catalytic converter off her car while it was parked at Faith Creation Church, 4400 N. Mayfair Rd., across the street from her home.

She said she saw a car pull up next to hers, then a man got out and knelt down between the cars out of her view, and then her car started shaking.

By the time she put on her shoes and ran out to see what was going on, the man was back in his car and fleeing.

She hadn't any idea what had been done, but the deafening roar of her car when she started it told her something bad had happened.

Police found tell-tale flecks of red paint on the chopped ends of the exhaust pipe, as if, the investigating officer said, from the blade of a reciprocating saw.

Police say that there has been a huge spike recently in the theft of catalytic converters because of the price of the rare metals they contain.

In other recent incidents:

Thursday

A resident of the 900 block of North 68^th Street reported that some time between noon Monday and 9 p.m. Tuesday someone entered her unlocked garage and stole her bicycle, valued at $450.

A resident of the 6100 block of Washington Circle reported that some time between 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 a.m. Thursday someone entered and rummaged through his pickup truck and stole his snow blower, which he had left next to his garage. He could not say for sure whether anything was missing from the truck and he placed the value of the snow blower at $700.

A resident of the 2100 block of North 62^nd Street reported that some time between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. Thursday someone stole the stereo out of his girlfriend’s unlocked car while it was parked in his driveway. He thought the stereo was worth $300.

Wednesday

A Milwaukee resident reported that some time between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. someone broke into his car and stole his stereo and CDs while he was at work at , 4025 N. 92^nd St. He said he was sure the car was locked but police could find no sign of forced entry.

At 2:09 a.m., police were called to Blue Mound Road at North 76^th Street on a report of a naked man. Sure enough, officers found a 62-year-old Milwaukee man walking west and by then past 82^nd Street, stark naked. Officers said the man was disoriented and told them he was drunk, but it did not appear to them that he was. After they got him into the back of a squad car, he went into convulsions and Fire Department paramedics took him to Froedtert Hospital.

Tuesday

At 5:19 p.m., a 20-year-old Milwaukee woman was arrested for trespassing at Mayfair Mall after staff at called police to report that she was stealing merchandise. The woman left the store without taking anything, but police interviewed her and learned from records that she had been banned in November 2010. The woman said she knew she was banned, but added “I always come to the mall. How they gonna stop you from coming to Mayfair Mall?” She was ticketed with a $303 fine and her ban was advanced to January 2017.

A Milwaukee woman reported that between 8:20 and 8:35 a.m. someone had smashed a window in her car while she was at , 10025 W. North Ave. and stole her purse, then made fraudulent charges to her credit card.

A resident of the 6000 block of West Wells Street reported that some time overnight someone had smashed a window in his car while it was parked in the alley behind his home and stolen a GPS unit.

Monday

A resident of the 2400 block of North 111^th Street reported that between 5 p.m. Sunday and 7:45 p.m. Monday someone broke into his apartment and stole her iPad. He said he came home to find the front door unlocked and when he entered he found that someone had smashed through the ceiling. When police arrived, a maintenance man had already discovered that the burglar had entered by climbing into the attic via an unsecured ladder entrance in the common hallway.

A Hartland man called police at 7:30 p.m. Monday to report that his car had been stolen by a man who had contacted him through Craigslist with an interest in buying it. They had agreed to meet at , 3900 N. 124^th St. He said he was riding with the man on a test drive when he stopped and suggested the owner drive for awhile so he could “listen” to the car, a 2004 Audi. When the owner agreed and got out, the suspect sped away. The victim identified a known suspect from a photo array after Milwaukee police arrested him for attempting to sell parts from the stolen Audi.

At 6:50 p.m., an 18-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for trespassing at Mayfair Mall after security recognized him as a banned individual.