Virginia Business Owner Found Guilty in $12 Million Multi-State Catalytic Converter Theft Ring

A man from North Carolina admitted that he was part of a ring that stole catalytic converters across multiple states and that the ring ran out of his Emporia business.

The 45-year-old Theodore Nicholas Papouloglou bought stolen catalytic converters from crooks through his business, DG Auto.

Court records from 2020 show that Papouloglou got more than $12.2 million in wire transfers from his New Jersey-based criminal partners. The catalytic converters that were stolen were taken to New Jersey and then sent to Japan.

Papouloglou helped his criminal partners in New Jersey buy stolen catalytic converters from sellers in Texas and Oklahoma by making it easier for them to pay in large amounts of cash. The money that Papouloglou sent illegally was worth at least $6.6 million altogether.

Papouloglou used the money he got from DG Auto South for personal things, like buying his girlfriend a house and a fancy motorbike and going to Las Vegas casinos to gamble.

Even though Papouloglou made money from DG Auto South, he didn’t pay any taxes in 2020 or 2021.

Because the metals inside catalytic converters are so valuable, like palladium, platinum, and rhodium, they are often stolen. As much as $1,000 can be paid for a catalytic converter on the black market. Some metals are worth more than gold per ounce.

Police say it only takes less than a minute to steal a catalytic converter from the trunk of a car.

Papouloglou is set to be sentenced on February 20, 2025. He could spend up to 10 years in jail for this crime.