South Carolina news

Buying or selling stolen catalytic converters will result with up to 3 years in prison, new bill passed SC House

Columbia, South Carolina – Buying or selling stolen catalytic converters will result with up to 3 years in prison as new bill has passed the South Carolina House.

According to the bill, buying or selling stolen catalytic converters from now will count as a separate crime.

These systems cost a couple of thousands of dollars to be fixed and a lot of thefts are recorded in the past period in South Carolina.

These systems are pretty expensive because they are consisted of precious metals like rhodium, platinum and palladium. Unscrupulous scrap metal deals pay hundreds of dollars for them.

According to the last year reports, the number of stolen systems tripled. Just in Lexington County, more than 150 of these systems were reported stolen in the last six months. For comparison, only around 50 were stolen the year before for the same period.

An experienced thief can take this part from a vehicle in a couple of minutes.

The bill now heads to the state Senate.

Cindy Carey

Publisher

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