Sapulpa Police call logs report that six vehicles at the Sapulpa Schools Service Center on Burnett Street had their catalytic converters stolen on Thursday, July 29th. Calls to the Sapulpa Public Schools Service Center have gone unreturned. It’s unknown whether these vehicles were buses, or whether they will have an effect on the bus routes as the school prepares for a new year next month.
Catalytic Converter thefts have seen a tremendous rise in the last few years. In February, the Car-Mart dealership on Taft Ave. reported to Sapulpa Police that seven of their vehicles had their catalytic converters removed overnight.
The reason for the theft is a shocking increase in the value of certain precious metals that can be found in these converters, which can be sawn off the underside of a vehicle in as little as two to three minutes.
One of those metals is palladium. In 2020, the price of palladium quintupled to $2,875 an ounce, and as of February was hovering between $2,000 and $2,500 an ounce, above the price of gold. Rhodium—another of the precious metals found in catalytic converters—has gone from about $640 an ounce five years ago to a record $21,900 an ounce this year—an increase of more than 3,000 percent, and roughly 12 times the price of gold.
