Six defendants were sentenced on Monday, for their roles in a multi-million-dollar organized criminal enterprise that specialized in the theft of catalytic converters throughout the Delaware Valley region.
The defendants included Michael Williams, who owned and operated TDI Towing at 2335 Wheatsheaf Lane in Philadelphia, his three sons-in-law, Michael Bruce, Kevin Schwartz, and Patrick Hopkins, his wife Deborah Davalos, and her sister Lisa Davalos. On June 27, Williams, Bruce, Schwartz, Hopkins and Deborah Davalos pleaded guilty before President Judge Raymond F. McHugh. Lisa Davalos entered a no contest plea.
Williams, 53, of Huntingdon Valley, was sentenced to 2 ½ to 5 years in state prison, followed by a consecutive term of two years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $124,900 to 157 victims.
Bruce, 32, of Sewell, N.J., was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Both Schwartz, 34, and Hopkins, 25, both of Huntingdon Valley, were sentenced to nine months to 23 months at the county jail and Lisa Davalos, 49, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 90 days to 23 months in the county jail.
Deborah Davalos, 52, of Huntingdon Valley, was sentenced to two years of probation.
In June 2023, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced the takedown of the catalytic converter theft ring, following a nearly yearlong investigation.
Led by Detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, three dozen local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Philadelphia, and New Jersey took part in this collaborative investigation, which was aided by the Bucks County 20th Investigating Grand Jury.
This investigation found that TDI Towing had been in the business of buying catalytic converters for at least three years, and during that time they bought an average of 175 catalytic converters a week, or 27,300 during those three years. TDI employees paid an average of $300 per catalytic converter, for a total of nearly $8.2 million during the three years.
At the time the arrests were announced, the theft of catalytic converters had skyrocketed in Bucks County and surrounding counties because of the money they can fetch at scrap yards. Since these arrests, thefts of catalytic converters have drastically dropped with only four reported thefts in Bensalem Township as of this year, Deputy District Attorney Edward Furman Jr. said in court Monday. In 2022, Bensalem reported 272, Furman said. The catalytic converter thieves, known as “cutters,” were previously sentenced.
This case was investigated by Bucks County Detectives Richard Munger and Timothy Johnson, with assistance from the Bucks County Detectives Drug Strike Force, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and their Detective Bureau, the Attorney General’s Office, Delaware County Detectives, the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania State Police, Middletown Township Police Department, Bensalem Township Police Department, Lower Southampton Township Police Department, Warminster Township Police Department, Newtown Township Police Department, Abington Township Police Department, Plymouth Township Police Department, Upper Merion Township Police Department, East Norriton Township Police Department, Lower Gwynedd Police Department, Upper Gwynedd Police Department, Upper Dublin Police Department, Whitpain Township Police Department, FBI Field Offices in Philadelphia, Newark and New Jersey, and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Analysts from the Bucks County Detectives, Montgomery County Detectives, Mid-Atlantic Great Lake Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network (MAGLOCLEN), the Delaware Valley Intelligence Center (DVIC), the Pennsylvania Crime Information Center (PACIC) and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), were valuable to this investigation, and the Bucks County 20th Investigating Grand Jury was instrumental in getting these individuals charged. This case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Edward Furman Jr., and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jovin Jose.
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