Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has announced the sentencing of Alexander Kolitsas, a 31-year-old from Wolcott. Kolitsas was sentenced to 60 months in prison, with an additional two years of supervised release. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford for his involvement in a catalytic converter theft and trafficking operation. Kolitsas was also fined $50,000.
The investigation revealed that Kolitsas ran Downpipe Depot & Recycling LLC, located in East Hartford, from January 2021 to June 2022. The business was used to purchase stolen catalytic converters from a network of thieves. Kolitsas guided these suppliers on which converters were most valuable, conducting transactions at his home and behind a relative’s restaurant in Middlebury.
In early 2022, Kolitsas began creating electronic invoices for these purchases. These documents often used fictitious names to disguise the real sources of the stolen goods. During a specified period in 2022, Kolitsas and Downpipe Depot spent over $3.3 million on converters. These were then sold to recycling firms in New York and New Jersey, with some trips netting over $200,000 each. A New York recycler reportedly paid Kolitsas about $10 million in cash for the stolen converters.
The investigation uncovered Kolitsas’s use of the proceeds to purchase items including a Ford Transit Van. He was arrested on August 24, 2022, and later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and promotional money laundering.
Judge Nagala also ordered the forfeiture of the Ford Transit Van, a 2016 Polaris Slingshot, and funds totaling $166,708 seized during the investigation. Kolitsas remains free on a $150,000 bond until his scheduled prison reporting date on July 14.
The investigation was led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, and the East Hartford Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren C. Clark and A. Reed Durham under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program.