On Monday, December 19th, Nassau County Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip joined with her colleagues on the Nassau County Legislature to honor two Nassau County Police Department Detectives who busted a county-wide Catalytic Converter ring as Top Cops for December 2022. These detectives are Detective Kenton Locke and Detective James Tobin, both of the Asset Forfeiture and Intelligence Unit.
“The Great Neck community has been one of the areas that has been affected by catalytic converter thieves,” Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip said. “I am very thankful to Commissioner Patrick Ryder and Detectives Locke and Tobin for all they have done to try and put an end to this epidemic. This on-going investigation and these busts will help put all thieves in Nassau on notice: the police are coming after you.”
Last week, it was announced by Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder that numerous raids were conducted in Long Beach, Island Park and Huntington, on alleged home and work locations of members of a stolen catalytic converter ring. The Police, along with the Nassau District Attorney’s Office, Homeland Security and the US Postal Inspectors, acted on search warrants and recovered approximately $4,000,000 in cash and bank accounts, and several thousands of stolen catalytic converters. They also confiscated five decanting machines, electronic equipment and three vehicles. The machines are used to break down the precious metals in the catalytic converters, which the alleged ring members then shipped to Montana.
In April 2022, the Nassau County Legislature introduced legislation that required all businesses buying catalytic converters to obtain information from the seller, including their ID, copy of title, and the make, model and vehicle identification number of the vehicle the part came from. Businesses will be required to keep these records for 5 years of the purchase date and they must be made available for inspection, upon request, by the Nassau County Police Department and Consumer Affairs within 72 hours after date of purchase. If the scrap yards fail to comply, they will be fined.
Shown in photo, left to right: Legislator Pilip; Chris Kelly, 1st Vice President of DAI; Detective Kenton H. Locke; Detective James C. Tobin; Legislator Bill Gaylor and Billy Bourguignon, DAI Delegate.