CHICAGO — When Chicago police seized 211 catalytic converters and arrested two men on a West Side property in June 2023, it was the culmination of a year-long investigation. Now the man prosecutors call the “ringleader” of the operation has pleaded guilty in exchange for a three-year prison sentence. But because Marzel Woodard has been under a nightly curfew on electronic monitoring while awaiting trial, he will not spend time in jail.
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 on June 30, 2023, with a man named Vincent Parks.
Undercover officers reportedly watched as Woodard and Parks loaded catalytic converters from a vehicle into the unit. They tried to run when the police came in, but didn’t get far. Police said they found five severed catalytic converters in Woodard’s vehicle. Another 206 handlers were found in Woodard’s storage space after executing the warrant, prosecutors said.
Woodard has been under investigation since August 2022. Police had since seen him handling, possessing, storing and selling “large numbers” of catalytic converters, an assistant district attorney said during his first court appearance. Prosecutors said Parks had been handling and transporting converters with Woodard for about a week.
This week, Woodard, 38, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Under Illinois law, possessing a stolen critical part of a car, such as a catalytic converter, is equivalent to possessing the entire vehicle. Court records show prosecutors dropped the much more serious charge of organizing a car theft conspiracy as part of his plea deal.
Judge Tyria Walton imposed a three-year prison sentence, which was automatically reduced by 50% for good behavior. The remaining time was filled with the 541 days Woodard wore an ankle monitor since his arrest.
Parks, the man arrested with Woodard, was recently placed on probation for his role in the operation.
Booming company
State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurance company, says claims Catalytic converter thefts in Illinois fell from nearly 1,300 in the first half of 2023 to just 540 cases in the first six months of this year, a 58% drop. Nationally, 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.
Although the improvement is significant, thefts are still reported much more often than five years ago. The company said it paid just $651,000 for about 480 catalytic converter thefts in Illinois during all of 2019. Through the first eight months of 2022, it paid $5.3 million for 2,770 claims.
