Editorial: Catalytic converter thefts are expensive — and can be deadly

If you think that catalytic converter theft is a faceless property crime, you’re wrong. Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Almendarez last week lost his life over a catalytic converter.

Almendarez was fatally shot when he exchanged gunfire with several men he spotted attempting to steal a catalytic converter from his vehicle while he and his wife were at a grocery store.

Just weeks before Almendarez’s slaying, three men accused of stealing catalytic converters led Harris County sheriff deputies on a high-speed chase. And in yet another incident in March, two Texas men were arrested in connection with a rash of catalytic converter thefts at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.