JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Catalytic converter thieves targeted a Jacksonville chain restaurant twice in a three-week time frame.
John Figert is the owner of Taziki’s Mediterranean Café in Northeast Florida. He told News4JAX that the catering vans at three of his locations in two different cities have been hit by the thieves.
Figert’s restaurant inside the Palmetto Point shopping plaza on Beach Boulevard was targeted twice within the last three weeks and it was all caught on camera.
Figert said his catering vans at the Mandarin and Gainesville restaurant locations were also previously targeted by catalytic converter thieves.
It only took the thieves under 30 seconds to cut the converter off the restaurant’s catering van and then drive off.
“It’s hard to not question how this could happen twice within two weeks, but I tell you, what shocked me was the amount of time it took for them to get it,” Figert said.
Figert said his catering vans at the Mandarin and Gainesville restaurant locations were also previously targeted by catalytic converter thieves.
Figert paid $8,600 for the replacements, an expense he said could put a financial toll on already struggling businesses.
“They’re hurting everybody,” Figert said. “Everybody gets hurt.”
The theft of catalytic converters has become so expensive that Figert is considering leaving the vans offsite overnight or even spending the extra money to have a metal barrier installed under each of them.
In recent years, the theft of catalytic converters has become a growing problem nationwide. Thieves are stealing the converters because the devices have precious metals that are worth a lot of money.
An estimated 153,000 catalytic converters were stolen across the US last year.
Florida lawmakers have proposed a new law that would stiffen the penalties for catalytic converter thefts. If passed, these types of thefts would be third-degree felonies.