Sacramento family pleads guilty to selling stolen catalytic converters for $38 million

A Sacramento trio pleaded guilty Monday to taking part in a nationwide catalytic converter theft ring in which alleged thieves made more than $500 million, according to federal prosecutors.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice said 21 people across five states took part in the operation. Two Sacramento brothers and their mother established a $38 million unlicensed business from their home in which prosecutors said they bought stolen catalytic converters from local thieves and sold them to a company in New Jersey.

Catalytic converter thefts have exploded across the nation in the last few years, prized for their precious metals contained inside. California saw 37% of all catalytic converter theft claims nationwide and 1,600 of the parts were stolen each month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“They can be stolen in less than a minute,” the federal prosecutors added in a news release.

Defense attorneys representing the trio of Tou Sue Vang, 32, and Andrew Vang, 28, and their mother Monica Moua, 58, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The family sold $38 million worth of catalytic converters to a company called DG Auto Parts in New Jersey in less than two years, according to court documents. Their business grew out of a home on Meadowgate Drive in Sacramento’s Parkway neighborhood.

Suspects operating DG Auto Parts extracted the valuable metals inside and sold them for more than $545 million, court documents say.

Prosecutors also said Tou Sue Vang shipped roughly 300 Toyota Prius catalytic converters from California to New Jersey, according to The Sacramento Bee’s previous reporting. He used the profits to buy a $1.2 million Rio Linda home, a $65,000 pickup truck, a $42,000 trailer and two jet skis, according to previous reporting.

All three defendants pleaded guilty to conspiring to transport the stolen catalytic converters, prosecutors said. Tou Sue Vang pleaded guilty to 39 additional charges related to money laundering, according to the news release.

A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. Tou Sue Vang faces anywhere from five to 20 years in prison for each charge, as well as monetary fines, according to the news release, which said Andrew Vang and Moua could get a maximum of five years in prison.