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Man Confronts Alleged Thief Taking Off With Catalytic Converter: 'He Needs To Be Caught'

DAVIS (CBS13) — It's not every day you get to confront the person taking your stuff, but when Callid Banks saw something suspicious, he whipped out his cell phone and started recording.

"I look over and my car is up and I'm like, 'Oh crap, that's my car,'" Banks told CBS13.

He spotted the person under his car. You can hear him confront him in the cellphone video warning the man, "I see you." But the man doesn't flinch and continues what he's doing.

Banks says by the time he spotted the man, his catalytic converter had already been ripped out and the guy was only back to grab the jack and tool he allegedly used to cut it loose.

Davis Police say it's a fast-growing problem as investigators chase down hundreds of catalytic converters stolen every year. Police have had 292 reported catalytic thefts in 2020 compared to 109 in 2018. Banks had his snatched November 22 at 11:40 p.m.  His car was parked in an apartment parking lot with several other cars around and someone was arriving home as the theft occurred.

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"He knows what he's doing. He's done it before and when I was at the body shop there were two other cars ahead of mine that had their catalytic converters stolen also," said Banks.

As if that wasn't enough, to add salt to the wound, the man whisks away saying only one thing to Banks.

"You got insurance right?" To which Banks replied, "Insurance or not, you're busted."

Asks him if he has insurance, and speeds off.

"He did it. He was not afraid, he wasn't afraid to be videoed either. Yeah, he needs to be caught. He's serial and he's going to do it over and over again until he's caught and it costs a lot of money to get a new catalytic converter," said Banks.

Even with insurance, Banks will still have to pay hundreds of dollars to replace his catalytic converter.

Catalytic Coverter Theft

On Sunday 11/22/2020, DPD responded to a report of a catalytic converter theft on Olive Drive. The caller reported a male subject had stolen the catalytic converter from a Toyota Prius vehicle. The suspect was described as a white male adult, with brown hair, brown eyes and brown goatee. The suspect was not on scene upon arrival and officers were unable to locate him in the area. If you recognize this person or have any information regarding this case please call 530-747-5400

Posted by City of Davis Police Department on Wednesday, December 2, 2020
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