LILBURN, Ga.,None — A Gwinnett County mechanic is out thousands of dollars after someone cut the catalytic converters out of a dozen vehicles on his lot.
"I got in, started it up and it was real loud, and I knew what had happened," mechanic Terry Wright said.
Wright said the sound he heard could only be one thing, a missing catalytic converter.
He immediately checked the rest of the cars on his lot.
Wright told Channel 2s Kerry Kavanaugh he found 11 more vehicles with the same problem.
"Just trying to make an honest living and somebody's coming in and ripping you off," Wright said.
Wright told Kavanaugh he was robbed last Friday night.
He said someone snuck onto the lot of Terry's Auto Repair on Highway 29 and cut the catalytic converters out of a dozen vehicles.
Kavanaugh asked Wright, How devastating is that for a small business owner?
Wright replied, Very devastating it's a good bit of money."
Wright said he needs several thousand dollars to replace all of them, including the four converters swiped from customer's vehicles.
Lilburn police said it will be difficult to track down whoever did this. By now, the parts have likely been scrapped for cash.
The tiny amount of platinum in each one is worth hundreds of dollars, investigators said.
Wright told Kavanaugh he had no security cameras working on the property when the thieves showed up.
"It hurts, but you get over it," Wright said.
Wright said he will look into some better security measures and perhaps even some surveillance cameras, but first he has to come up with the thousands of dollars to replace the stolen parts.
WSBTV
