(Credit: LevittownNow.com)
The charges last June followed a nearly yearlong investigation involving dozens of law enforcement agencies.
Six people involved in a widespread catalytic converter theft operation that netted millions were sentenced Monday at the Justice Center.
The criminal enterprise, which impacted drivers in Bucks County and surrounding counties, was spearheaded by Michael Williams, 53, of Huntingdon Valley, who operated TDI Towing in Philadelphia, authorities said.
Williams, along with three sons-in-law — Michael Bruce, 32, of Sewell, N.J.; Kevin Schwartz, 34; and Patrick Hopkins, 25, both of Huntingdon Valley — and his wife, Deborah Davalos, 52, pleaded guilty. Lisa Davalos, 49, of Philadelphia, pleaded no contest in June.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, Williams was sentenced to 2.5 to 5 years in state prison, followed by a consecutive term of two years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $124,900 to 157 victims. Bruce was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Both Schwartz and Hopkins were sentenced to nine months to 23 months at the county jail and Lisa Davalos was sentenced to 90 days to 23 months in the county jail. Deborah Davalos was sentenced to two years of probation by Bucks County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Raymond McHugh.
Previously, several catalytic converter thieves, known as “cutters,” were sentenced.
The charges last June followed a nearly yearlong investigation involving dozens of law enforcement agencies.
Investigators said that TDI Towing bought an average of 175 catalytic converters weekly over three years, which totaled approximately $8.2 million.
The thefts were driven by high resale values of the precious metals inside the catalytic converters, authorities said.
The theft spiked in the region in recent years. Police across Bucks County, including the Levittown, were reporting frequent thefts of catalytic converters.
Bensalem Township reported 272 thefts in 2022. However, following the arrests, only four thefts have been reported this year, according to Deputy District Attorney Edward Furman Jr.
According to authorities, the case was Bucks County detectives Richard Munger and Timothy Johnson, with assistance from the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Detective Bureau, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, Delaware County Detectives, the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Middletown Township Police Department, Bensalem Township Police Department, Lower Southampton Township Police Department, Warminster Township Police Department, Newtown Township Police Department, Abington Township Police Department, Plymouth Township Police Department, Upper Merion Township Police Department, East Norriton Township Police Department, Lower Gwynedd Police Department, Upper Gwynedd Police Department, Upper Dublin Police Department, Whitpain Township Police Department, FBI Field Offices in Philadelphia and Newark and New Jersey, and the U.S. Marshals’ Service Fugitive Task Force. Analysts from the Bucks County Detectives, Montgomery County, Mid-Atlantic Great Lake Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network (MAGLOCLEN), the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center (DVIC), the Pennsylvania Crime Information Center (PACIC), and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) all assisted.
