ATLANTA,None — A woman is frustrated after a thief cut out her car's catalytic converter while it was parked at Lenox Square in Buckhead during the middle of the day.
Stefanie Chandler works at the mall. She told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri she parked her 1995 Toyota 4-Runner in the parking deck near the main entrance at 9 a.m. Monday and left shortly before 5 p.m.
"Turned the truck on and it sounded like a boat out of water, so I knew something was wrong," Chandler said.
A passing shopper stopped to help her, Chandler said.
"He got underneath the truck, and he says, 'Someone has cut out your catalytic converter. It's completely cut out,'" Chandler said.
John Mooney, an auto technician at Professional Automotive Repair on Monroe Drive, is working on Chandler's vehicle. He told Viteri thieves target SUVs because it's easier to get underneath them.
"They have these battery-operated saws. All they have to do is get under here and cut it right out. It don't take but a matter of two minutes," Mooney said.
He said thieves target converters because of the metals inside and usually sell them for about $100 to scrap yards, even though the part costs much more. In Chandler's case, insurance is picking up the cost, which she said is around $2,500 because of damage to her exhaust system. Mooney said not all insurance companies will pay to put a factory converter put in.
"Most of the time, it comes out of customer's pockets," he said.
Chandler is frustrated someone got away with the theft so close to the mall's busy entrance.
"I'm parked in the front under a camera, and they're still so bold they just go and cut it right out," she said.
In a statement, a Lenox Square representative said management and security teams are working with the Atlanta Police Department to investigate the incident. The statement said, "Lenox Square takes several proactive security measures, including maintaining a 24-hour security patrol of our mall, parking garages and surrounding parking lots."
WSBTV
