Detroit police are still searching for a second suspect after thieves stripped 14 catalytic converters from shuttle buses at a senior facility on the 200 block of McDougall, a theft that left the vehicles used to ferry elderly residents to medical appointments and off-campus activities out of commission. The early-morning heist happened around 6:30 a.m. on July 26, and while one man has already been arrested and charged, investigators say a second person involved in the crime remains at large.
According to FOX 2 Detroit, two people were involved in the theft, but only one has been identified and taken into custody so far. Detroit police are asking the public for help identifying the second suspect and have asked anyone with information to call the 7th Precinct Detective Unit at 313-596-5740. Detroit Rewards TV is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest, and tipsters can also submit anonymous information through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
Suspect Already Facing 15 Felony Counts
The man already in custody, Delmar Jijuan-Raffile Williams, 32, was arrested the day after the theft and was arraigned last Friday in Detroit's 36th District Court, according to CBS News Detroit. A judge ordered him held on a $250,000 bond with GPS tethering and house arrest requirements. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy formally charged Williams with one count of larceny of $20,000 or more and 14 separate counts of larceny from a motor vehicle, one for each stolen converter.
Worthy publicly condemned the crime, saying that targeting buses used to transport senior citizens to doctor's appointments made the theft “particularly remarkable.” The 14 converters were pulled from shuttle buses that the senior facility depends on to get elderly residents to medical appointments and other outings, per the same account, leaving the facility's transportation options crippled in the aftermath.
What Michigan Law Says About the Charges
Williams faces stiff exposure under Michigan statute. Larceny involving property valued at $20,000 or more is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $15,000 or triple the value of the stolen property, according to the Michigan Legislature. Separately, state law explicitly classifies stealing or unlawfully removing a catalytic converter from a vehicle as its own felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.
Michigan lawmakers have also targeted the resale side of the crime. Amendments to the state's Scrap Metal Regulatory Act require strict seller identification, recordkeeping, and payment rules for dealers buying used catalytic converters, an effort aimed at choking off the cash market that fuels thefts like this one, according to RRCats.com.
A Theft Fueled by a National Surge
The McDougall theft fits a pattern that has exploded nationally in recent years. Insurance claims for catalytic converter thefts jumped from 16,660 in 2020 to 64,701 in 2022, driven by the high market value of precious metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium packed inside the devices, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Replacing a single stolen converter typically costs vehicle owners and fleet operators between $1,000 and $3,500, not counting the cost of the vehicle sitting idle — a burden that multiplies fast when 14 units vanish from one fleet overnight.
Federal lawmakers have taken notice of the broader trend as well. The bipartisan Preventing Auto Recycling Theft Act was reintroduced in the 119th Congress to mandate VIN marking on catalytic converters and create federal criminal penalties for auto part theft, aiming to help trace stolen parts across state lines, according to Rental Management Magazine. It's a legislative response to a crime wave that has repeatedly hit Michigan, including a wave of thefts Hoodline previously reported targeting parked cars at Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
For now, the biggest unanswered question in the McDougall case is the identity of the second suspect Detroit police are still trying to track down. Williams has a probable cause conference scheduled for August 21 and a preliminary examination set for August 28, and the total financial toll on the senior facility has not been disclosed.
