The Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office reported Wednesday there has been a series of thefts of catalytic converters in the county.

A photo of a vehicle with the catalytic converter removed. Photo courtesy of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office

Lt. Chris Read said three incidents in China, Manchester and Litchfield were reported between April 2-7. 

Read said the vehicles targeted were larger pick-ups or vans. He said the size of the vehicle “allows suspects to get underneath the vehicle and use a reciprocating saw to cut the catalytic converter off.”

“The vehicles targeted tend to be near a roadway,” he said, “which would allow a suspect to commit the crime and be gone usually in less than a minute.”

Read said the value of the catalytic converters in these three cases exceeds $15,000. He added that catalytic converters have valuable precious metal in them.

Anyone with information in reference to these incidents is asked to call the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office at (207) 623-3614 ext. 1254.

At the end of March, a similar situation arose in Skowhegan. On March 31, Skowhegan police Chief David Bucknam said his department was investigating a series of thefts over a week-and-a-half span.

“It was reported by three different businesses in the town of Skowhegan that they had catalytic converters cut out of their company and/or customer vehicles,” Bucknam said at that time.

Those with any information on the Skowhegan thefts should contact Detective Sgt. Kelly Hooper at (207) 474-6908.