CHICAGO — When Chicago police seized 211 catalytic converters and arrested two men at a West Side in June 2023, it was the culmination of a year-long investigation. Now, the man prosecutors dubbed the “ringleader” of the operation has pleaded guilty in exchange for a three-year sentence. But, because Marzel Woodard has been observing a nighttime curfew on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial, he will not spend any time in prison.
Officials said investigators had a search warrant for a storage unit in the 4500 block of West North Avenue when Woodard arrived at the facility with a man named Vincent Parks on June 30, 2023.
Undercover officers allegedly watched as Woodard and Parks unloaded catalytic converters from a vehicle into the unit. They tried to run away when the cops moved in but didn’t get far. Police said they found five severed catalytic converters inside Woodard’s vehicle. Another 206 converters were found in Woodard’s storage unit after they executed the warrant, prosecutors said.
Woodard had been under investigation since August 2022. Police had seen him handling, possessing, storing, and selling “large numbers” of catalytic converters since then, an assistant state’s attorney said during his first court appearance. The prosecutor said Parks had been handling and transporting converters with Woodard for about a week.
This week, Woodard, 38, pleaded guilty to possessing a stolen motor vehicle. Under Illinois law, possessing a stolen critical piece of an automobile, such as a catalytic converter, is equivalent to possessing the entire vehicle. Court records show that prosecutors dropped the much more serious charge of organizing a vehicle theft conspiracy as part of his plea deal.
Judge Tyria Walton handed him a three-year sentence, which was automatically reduced by 50% for good behavior. The remaining time was satisfied by the 541 days Woodard spent wearing an ankle monitor since his arrest.
Parks, the man arrested with Woodard, recently received probation for his role in the operation.
Booming business
State Farm, the largest auto insurance company in the country, says claims for catalytic converter thefts in Illinois declined from nearly 1,300 during the first half of 2023 to just 540 cases during the first six months of this year, a 58% drop. Nationwide, the company saw a 74% drop in catalytic converter theft claims through June 30.
Illinois generates the second-most catalytic converter theft claims in the country, with an average claim of $2,100.
While the improvement is significant, thefts continue to be reported far more often than five years ago. The company said it paid out just $651,000 for about 480 catalytic converter thefts in Illinois during all of 2019. During the first eight months of 2022, it paid $5.3 million for 2,770 claims.
