Six people, including the ringleader, of Bucks County catalytic converter theft ring sentenced to prison, probation
Michael Williams, the ringleader of the catalytic converter theft ring, and his crew stole thousands of catalytic converters in Bucks County and beyond.
Six people who took part in a multimillion-dollar catalytic converter theft ring and stole, bought, and sold thousands of the valuable car parts in Philadelphia, Bucks County, and across the region have been sentenced to various prison and probation terms, drawing the sprawling case to a close.
Michael Williams, 53, who ran the operation out of his Port Richmond-based TDI Towing; his wife, Deborah Davalos; and Williams’ sons-in-law Kevin Schwartz, Patrick Hopkins, and Michael Bruce all pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court to multiple crimes, including conspiracy, theft of catalytic converter, and related offenses. Williams’ sister-in-law Lisa Davalos pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property in late June.
Williams was sentenced this week to 2½ to 5 years in state prison and ordered to pay $124,900 in restitution to 157 theft victims.
Bruce, 32, of Sewell, Gloucester County, was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at the county jail. Schwartz, 34, and Hopkins, 25, both of Huntingdon Valley, were both sentenced to nine months to 23 months at the county jail.
Lisa Davalos, 49, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 90 days to 23 months in the county jail, while Deborah Davalos, 52, of Huntingdon Valley, was sentenced to two years’ probation.
Deborah Davalos’ attorney, Louis Mincarelli, said in a text message that his client’s troubled childhood led her down the wrong path in life, but that he felt the plea deal they reached would allow her to work to correct that.
“It gives her the opportunity to demonstrate that this incident is not a true reflection of who she is as a person,” Mincarelli said.
Calls to attorneys for the others were not immediately returned.
The sentencings by Bucks County Court Judge Raymond McHugh came more than a year after the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and more than a dozen federal, state, and local agencies said they had dismantled the ring and announced charges of corrupt organizations, criminal conspiracy, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, and related offenses against nearly a dozen adults and a teen.
The arrests followed a yearlong, multiagency investigation that involved surveillance, undercover transactions, and high-speed car chases.
Between 2020 and 2023, Williams, whom authorities described as the kingpin of the operation, was buying at least $10,000 worth of stolen converters every night. Authorities said Williams’ crew stole at least 2,000 of the valuable car parts in Bucks County, Philadelphia, and beyond and he, in turn, paid the thieves for their work.
During those years, authorities said, the crime ring purchased an estimated 27,300 catalytic converters for a total of $8.2 million
Williams employed “cutters,” trained to quickly shear catalytic converters off the bottoms of cars, to get the parts, sometimes removing them from parked cars in broad daylight.
Three men Williams enlisted in the criminal enterprise, Eric Simpson, Michael Evangelist, and Anthony Davalos Sr., pleaded guilty to crimes that included theft by unlawful taking and corrupt organizations earlier this year and were each sentenced to prison terms. Evangelist was a cutter, authorities said. A 17-year-old was also charged in connection with the theft ring, but the outcome of that case is not known because it took place in juvenile court, where proceedings are confidential.
Two other associates in the crime ring, Richard Allan Page and Gary Shirley, were charged with multiple crimes including theft by unlawful taking and theft of a catalytic converter. Shirley pleaded guilty to both charges in October and was given credit for time served and ordered to pay $4,172 in restitution to victims.
Page pleaded guilty to theft of a catalytic converter and related crimes in August and was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at the county jail.
Catalytic converter theft has long been a problem in the Philadelphia region. Thieves target catalytic converters — emissions-control devices that reduce the amount of harmful pollution in car exhaust — because of the precious metals they contain: platinum, palladium, and rhodium.
The rare metals — made rarer by supply-chain issues in recent years, authorities said — fetch high prices in the resale market. The current price for about 31 grams of rhodium is $4,575, while the same amount of platinum sells for is $934, and palladium sells for $938, according to Johnson Matthey, a British chemical and technology company.