$9,000 worth of Catalytic Converters stolen from Colorado Springs school

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The Colorado Springs Police Department says the number of catalytic converter thefts has been on the rise within the past few months. In August of 2019, police were seeing between two and three cases a week, now they see seven to ten catalytic converter thefts a week.

Atlas Prep School is one of the latest victims of this crime. About two weeks ago, two of their activity buses were vandalized. These are buses they usually used to pick up boxes of food for their food pantry and sometimes used to take students to sporting activities.

While some catalytic converters can cost hundreds of dollars to replace, for bigger vehicles it can be thousands of dollars. Police say thieves aren't looking to sell the car part, what they're after are the metals it carries. Catalytic converters contain metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium, which can be worth more than $100 at junkyards.

Catalytic converts are also a vital part of your vehicle. They help control exhaust emissions in vehicles. People basically won't notice it’s gone, until they start their car.

Thanks to security footage, police now have suspects they are searching for. The suspects are described as two Caucasian males. One is seen wearing a gray short-sleeve shirt, black pants, white shoes and has a full tattoo sleeve on his left arm.

The second suspect is described as wearing a black short-sleeve shirt, dark gray jeans, gray shoes, and a black and red cap. Their vehicle is described as a small pickup truck, green front cab, and white pickup bed.

If you have any information you are encourage to contact the Colorado Springs Police Department at: 719-444-7000.