Derek Fujimoto

Derek Fujimoto, 46, had his catalytic converter stolen last Monday, off the 1989 Toyota truck he parked at College of the Canyons where he works in the copying and printing office.

He started his truck, and it sounded loud, like he was missing a muffler.Then he found the catalytic converter had been sawed off.

"I think for me it's

Advertisement

something new, as far as on a vehicle to think that someone would steal a catalytic converter off a vehicle," Fujimoto said.

When Derek Fujimoto got into his 1989 Toyota pickup truck parked in the College of the Canyons staff parking lot on the afternoon of Jan. 8, he anticipated getting home to relax after a long day of work.

His plans went awry when he heard a loud noise rattling out of the exhaust pipe.

"The truck is 18 years old so I just thought the muffler went," said Fujimoto, coordinator of COC's reprographics department.
...
Fujimoto quickly learned the costs that such a crime imposes when he got a nearly $500 bill to replace the part later the next day.

The devices have been used on cars and trucks since the 1970s to reduce the toxicity of emissions from an internal combustion engine.

"Though I didn't know it then, catalytic converters are targeted because of their rare metals," Fujimoto said.