{
  "id": "2024-02-05-mt-san-antonio-college-catalytic-converter-thefts",
  "slug": "mt-san-antonio-college-catalytic-converter-thefts-2024-02-05",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Mt. San Antonio College",
    "shortName": "Mt. SAC",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "community-college",
    "alertSystemName": "Mt. SAC Alerts",
    "enrollment": 29000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-02-05",
    "endDate": "2024-02-27",
    "type": "theft",
    "cleryCategory": "advisory",
    "headline": "Two Catalytic Converters, Three Weeks Apart: A Familiar Warning Returns to Mt. SAC",
    "summary": "Mt. San Antonio College students reported [two separate catalytic converter thefts three weeks apart in February 2024](https://sac.media/2024/04/01/two-catalytic-converter-thefts-mark-the-start-of-the-mt-sac-spring-semester/), the first soldered off on February 5 with an estimated $2,500 repair cost and the second cut from a vehicle in Lot B on February 27. Mt. SAC's Police and Campus Safety department repeated [standing guidance the chief first issued during an earlier 2021 wave of thefts](https://www.mtsac.edu/newsroom/news/posts/cc_thefts.html), asking the community to report anyone seen crawling underneath a parked car.",
    "outcome": "No arrests were reported in available coverage. Police and Campus Safety reiterated its standard prevention guidance and asked students to report suspicious activity around parked vehicles.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    },
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestampApprox": "Circulated after the February 2024 thefts; Mt. SAC's Police and Campus Safety department has repeated this same guidance since at least a 2021 wave of thefts",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "Police and Campus Safety Advisory: Catalytic Converter Thefts. Mt. SAC has seen another round of catalytic converter thefts on campus, including a student's vehicle in a campus lot on February 5 and a second theft from a vehicle in Lot B on February 27. Police Chief Mike Williams is asking the community to report anyone seen crawling underneath a car, driving around aimlessly, carrying a battery-powered saw, or anything else which just does not seem right to Police and Campus Safety at (909) 274-4555.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://sac.media/2024/04/01/two-catalytic-converter-thefts-mark-the-start-of-the-mt-sac-spring-semester/",
      "sourceDescription": "SAC.Media (Mt. SAC student newspaper)",
      "annotations": [
        "The quoted description of suspicious behavior, crawling underneath a car, driving around aimlessly, carrying a battery-powered saw, comes from Police Chief Mike Williams' standing guidance, first issued during an earlier 2021 wave of catalytic converter thefts and reiterated by campus media covering the February 2024 incidents",
        "The first theft, discovered February 5, 2024, was estimated at $2,500 to repair after the converter was soldered off; the second was cut from a vehicle in Lot B on February 27, 2024",
        "This is a paraphrase built from indexed excerpts of Mt. SAC's official newsroom post and SAC.Media's reporting; the literal wording of any 2024-specific written advisory could not be independently confirmed because the source pages could not be fully retrieved in this session"
      ],
      "characterCount": 506
    }
  ],
  "context": "Catalytic converter theft, cutting the emissions-control device from underneath a parked car for its scrap value in precious metals, has been a recurring property crime at Mt. San Antonio College's Walnut, California campus for years. [SAC.Media first reported Police Chief Mike Williams warning the campus about a wave of thefts in November 2021](https://sac.media/2021/11/12/police-chief-warns-of-catalytic-converter-thefts/), urging students and staff to report anyone crawling underneath a car or carrying a battery-powered saw in a parking lot. The [same pattern recurred at the start of the spring 2024 semester](https://sac.media/2024/04/01/two-catalytic-converter-thefts-mark-the-start-of-the-mt-sac-spring-semester/), when a student's catalytic converter was soldered off on February 5, 2024, with an estimated $2,500 repair cost, and a second was cut from a car in Lot B on February 27, 2024. Mt. SAC's [Police and Campus Safety department](https://www.mtsac.edu/newsroom/news/posts/cc_thefts.html) maintains a dedicated crime log and continues to rely on the same community-reporting guidance across both waves, since catalytic converter theft rarely leaves witnesses and is difficult to prevent through patrol alone.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The same police-chief guidance, worded almost identically, was reissued across a 2021 wave and a 2024 wave of catalytic converter thefts, three years apart",
    "Both February 2024 thefts targeted vehicles in open surface lots rather than the parking structure, consistent with the type of exposed, lightly monitored lot catalytic converter thieves nationally prefer",
    "No arrests were reported in either the 2021 or 2024 waves in available coverage, illustrating how difficult these low-witness property crimes are to close",
    "Classified as an advisory rather than a Clery Timely Warning, reflecting how catalytic converter theft, while a real and costly property crime, is not typically treated as an ongoing threat to physical safety"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Two catalytic converter thefts mark the start of the Mt. SAC spring semester (SAC.Media)",
      "url": "https://sac.media/2024/04/01/two-catalytic-converter-thefts-mark-the-start-of-the-mt-sac-spring-semester/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police Chief Warns of Catalytic Converter Thefts (Mt. SAC Newsroom)",
      "url": "https://www.mtsac.edu/newsroom/news/posts/cc_thefts.html",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "Police Chief Warns of Catalytic Converter Thefts (SAC.Media, 2021)",
      "url": "https://sac.media/2021/11/12/police-chief-warns-of-catalytic-converter-thefts/",
      "type": "student-newspaper"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "theft",
    "catalytic-converter",
    "community-college",
    "california",
    "parking-lot",
    "repeat-pattern",
    "2024"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}