I think I may have one of those “it-can-only-happen-in-Santa-Monica” tales and, unfortunately, I am at the wrong end of the story. The good news, Al Gore, is you know that the environmental movement is really zinging when it finally reaches the dark bowels of the criminal underworld. The bad news is that a week ago Tuesday night someone actually stole the catalytic converter from beneath my 15-year-old small SUV which was parked at the southeast corner of Idaho and Euclid. I discovered the crime the next day when I started the vehicle and it sounded like Jeff Gordon’s #24 DuPont Chevrolet currently leading NASCAR in points.
“That’s strange,” noted the desk officer at the Santa Monica Police Department when called to report the crime.
“You get these sorry calls all the time. If you think it’s strange it must be really strange,” I replied, fully realizing for the first time the magnitude of my eco-thief victimization.
I try to never use my forum in the Santa Monica Mirror for personal initiatives. But with my exhaust system “scrubber” missing, I can’t resist asking readers for help. If a sleazeball mechanic approaches you in the parking lot of Pavilions, Whole Foods or anywhere else locally and tries to fence a hot catalytic converter, please call the cops. If the unit is recovered, my reward package for the tipster includes a compact fluorescent light, a DVD of An Inconvenient Truth and a ride in my friend’s Prius.
