Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has announced the sentencing of Mervin Figueroa, a 27-year-old from New Haven, for his involvement in a catalytic converter theft ring. Figueroa received a sentence of 14 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala delivered the sentence in Hartford.
Court documents and statements reveal a widespread investigation into the theft of catalytic converters from vehicles in Connecticut. Catalytic converters, which contain valuable precious metals and are easily removed, are often targeted by thieves. The scrap price for these items varies between $300 and $1,500 based on the model and type of metal.
The investigation identified Alexander Kolitsas as the owner of Downpipe Depot & Recycling LLC, located on Park Avenue in East Hartford. Kolitsas and his company bought stolen converters from a group of suppliers, including Figueroa, and sold them to recycling businesses in New York and New Jersey. Kolitsas provided instructions to his suppliers on which converters to target for maximum resale profit and conducted transactions at his home in Wolcott or behind a restaurant in Middlebury.
Kolitsas maintained electronic invoices from January 2022 onward, documenting the purchase of stolen converters from Figueroa and others. These invoices sometimes allowed suppliers to use fictitious names, obscuring the converters' true origins while maintaining the appearance of legitimate records. Between January 26 and May 31, 2022, Kolitsas and his company paid about $3,345,675 for stolen converters.
Figueroa received $169,840 for converters, including those stolen in two incidents at U-Haul Moving and Storage in Naugatuck. Messages between the two men indicated Kolitsas instructed Figueroa to remove anti-theft tags from converters stolen from U-Haul before he would accept them. Additionally, Figueroa was found to have stolen converters from school buses.
Figueroa was arrested on November 15, 2023, and pleaded guilty on October 29, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. He remains free on a $50,000 bond and must report to prison on June 2.
Kolitsas has pleaded guilty to related charges and is awaiting sentencing.
The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI), and the East Hartford Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren C. Clark and A. Reed Durham are prosecuting the case through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program. This program disrupts and dismantles drug traffickers and criminal organizations by utilizing a coordinated approach with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. More information about the program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.