Prosecutors in Connecticut introduced sentencing of two males concerned in catalytic converter theft and trafficking.
Alexander Kolitsas, 31, of Wolcott, was sentenced in Hartford to 60 months in jail, adopted by two years of supervised launch, for working a catalytic converter theft and trafficking ring. He was additionally ordered to pay a $50,000 positive, in accordance with Marc H. Silverman, performing U.S Legal professional for the District of Connecticut.
Based on courtroom paperwork and statements made in courtroom, Kolitsas owned and operated Downpipe Depot & Recycling, which had a warehouse on Park Avenue in East Hartford. From roughly January 2021 to June 2022, Kolitsas used Downpipe Depot to buy stolen catalytic converters from a community of thieves. Kolitsas instructed his suppliers on the forms of converters that will acquire essentially the most revenue upon resale, and he would typically meet with them and transact enterprise at his residence late at night time or behind a member of the family’s restaurant in Middlebury after hours.
Prosecutors stated information seized from Downpipe Depot revealed that a lot of Kolitsas’s suppliers have been promoting hundreds to tens of hundreds of {dollars}’ price of stolen converters to Kolitsas every week.
Kolitsas was arrested on August 24, 2022. On October 7, 2024, he pleaded responsible to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and one depend of promotional cash laundering.
Beginning in January 2022, Kolitsas maintained digital invoices reflecting the acquisition of stolen catalytic converters from Mervin Figueroa and different suppliers. In a number of of the invoices, Kolitsas permitted his suppliers to make use of fictitious names or enterprise names with a view to create the looks of correct recordkeeping whereas obscuring from his information the true supply of the stolen converters. The invoices present that between roughly January 26 and Could 31, 2022, Kolitsas and Downpipe Depot paid paid greater than $3.3 million to buy converters from his suppliers.
U.S. Legal professional Silverman additionally introduced that Mervin Figueroa, 27, of New Haven, was sentenced in Hartford to 14 months of imprisonment, adopted by three years of supervised launch, for offenses associated to his participation in a stolen catalytic converter trafficking ring.
Based on prosecutors, the invoices mirror that Downpipe Depot paid Figueroa $169,840 for catalytic converters, together with converters that have been stolen in two separate incidents from automobiles at U-Haul Transferring and Storage in Naugatuck. In messages between Kolitsas and Figueroa, Kolitsas advised Figueroa that he wanted to take away anti-theft tags that U-Haul had positioned on the converters earlier than Kolitsas would take them. The investigation revealed that Figueroa additionally stole converters from faculty buses.
Figueroa was arrested on November 15, 2023. On October 29, 2024, he pleaded responsible to 1 depend of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property and one depend of interstate transportation of stolen property.
Supply: U.S Legal professional for the District of Connecticut
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