An employee taking a break in his car Sunday night in the parking lot of an Interstate 10 business called 911 after seeing someone trying to steal a catalytic converter. Orange Detective Captain Robert Enmon said investigators hope to get a license plate number off the van in which the would-be thieves were traveling.
The men drove away without taking the converter, but Officer T.P. Pruitt reported the pipe to the converter had a cut and exhaust was leaking.
The attempted theft was at 9:13 Sunday at Blue Beacon Truck Wash, off Interstate 10 by Highway 62 South.
Pruitt reported the owner of a Ford Excursion SUV was working at the business and parked the vehicle in the lot. Another employee was sitting in his parked vehicle while on a break. The employee saw a white Chrysler, full-size van drive up by the Excursion. One of the men got outside of the van and went underneath the SUV with a saw. The man did not remove the converter. He went back to the van, and it drove away.
Thieves have been removing catalytic converters off of vehicles around the area for the past few months. The converters have a small number of platinum-grade metals the thieves can sell.
Two robberies of individuals were reported during the weekend at the Shell convenience store, 3118 Edgar Brown Drive.
A man called 911 at 1:51 a.m. Saturday to report he had been robbed. Captain Enmon said the 40-year-old man told police he was in the parking lot of the store when a man came up to him and offered to sell him an electric bike. The victim went with the man to see the bike. Another man with a gun then robbed him.
The second incident was reported at 5:48 p.m. Saturday. Captain Enmon said two women who know each other were fighting in the parking lot. During the fight, one of the women took the other one’s purse.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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