RENTON, Wash. — Despite a new law that hopes to deter incidents, catalytic converter thefts are still taking place, especially in one Renton neighborhood.
"There must be a better way to go about doing things than stealing catalytic converters," said Tony Barngrover.
Video posted on Ring.com caught thieves in the act stealing a catalytic converter off a car in Renton’s Victoria Hills neighborhood, just after midnight on July 9th.
"It just is what it is, and you hope that you get it back and it's not too tore up," said Barngrover.
Barngrover lives less than a mile away from where that Ring video was captured. Unfortunately, he too has experienced thieves targeting his own vehicle. His van was stolen earlier this year on May 19th. Although it was found a few days later, the catalytic converter was stolen along with other damage.
"It was really sad for it to be taken away and now I park it here because if you look over here at the door, you can see the lock hanging out of the door," said Barngrover.
Barngrover said his neighbor has surveillance video showing the theft take place and reveals a red CRV, following closely. He believes it's the same red CRV involved in other thefts.
"Three weeks later my neighbor's pick-up also got stolen, and it was the same car that was following my car," said Barngrover.
He hopes the culprits will reflect on their actions.
"It's not so much what you've done in the past, it's what you plan on doing with your life in the future and unless you want your past to follow you everywhere you go, you might to think about doing something a little differently," said Barngrover.
KING 5 did reach out to the Renton Police Department, asking for any updates on the thefts, but police have yet to get back to KING 5.