Minnesota Men Charged in $21 Million Catalytic Convert Theft Ring

MINNEAPOLIS (WJON News) – Four Minnesota men have been indicted for their roles in a multi-million dollar scheme to transport stolen catalytic converters across state lines.

According to court documents, from May 2020 through October 2022, 41-year-old John  Kotten of Hutchinson, 32-year-old Justin Johnson of St. Paul, 31-year-old Soe Nye Moo,  of St. Paul, and 34-year-old James Jensen Minneapolis, and others knowingly participated in a lucrative scheme in which they acquired stolen catalytic converters and transported them across state lines to buyers who paid large sums of money for the stolen car parts.

Catalytic converters are emission control devices that contain valuable, precious metals—including palladium, platinum, and rhodium—in their center or “core” to reduce the toxic gas and pollutants from a vehicle’s engine and filter them into safer emissions.

As part of the conspiracy, individuals who operated as street-level cutters stole catalytic converters from vehicles throughout the state of Minnesota and transferred them to Kotten or Johnson. At times, Kotten and Johnson met with cutters directly to buy stolen catalytic converters, other times they instructed cutters to transfer the catalytic converters to intermediary buyers acting on their behalf, such as Jensen and Moo.

After receiving stolen catalytic converters, the defendants concealed and stored the inventory in preparation for shipment across state lines. After sorting, categorizing, and pricing out the anticipated loads, the defendants transported the stolen catalytic converters across state lines using rented U-Haul trailers and personal vehicles. Payments for the stolen catalytic converters were typically in the form of wire transfer, cash, check, or a combination thereof.

In order to conceal their scheme, Kotten and others purchased scrap or junk cars from individual sellers or at auction to make it appear as though they were involved in a legitimate automotive scrapping and recycling business in the event they were audited or investigated.

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In total, the conspiracy yielded approximately $21 million in payments to the defendants, most of which came from a small number of high-volume buyers based in New Jersey, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New York.

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