Man charged in theft of catalytic converters

By LORI MONSEWICZ

ALLIANCE — Police arrested an Alliance man, accusing him of selling nearly a dozen stolen catalytic converters.

A yearlong investigation resulted in the arrest of Jonathan E. Lockridge, 29, of 2038 Watson Ave., who is accused of stealing catalytic converters from cars in four counties, including Columbiana and Mahoning.

Lockridge was arrested at 1:30 p.m. Monday at Union Avenue and Beech Street here by officers with the police department’s Special Investigations Unit and its newly formed Warrant Bureau, according to a news release from the department.

Lockridge was charged with receiving stolen property and criminal tools possession.

Detective Bob Rajcan and warrant officers went to Lockridge’s home after hearing that he had 10 stolen converters there. They said they saw him gather the converters, which have a replacement value of about $500 apiece, and drive off.

Police said Lockridge had been stealing six to 10 converters from cars at night in four counties and selling them for scrap at $50 to $100 apiece. The counties are Stark, Mahoning, Columbiana and Portage.

The release said Lockridge had rented tools from auto-parts stores in Salem and Canton to enable him to cut the converters from the cars.

Rajcan stopped Lockridge in the 3000 block of South Union Avenue. There, officers arrested Lockridge on a Columbiana County warrant charging him with failure to appear in court.

The news release said police believes most of the 10 converters they found in his car had been stolen from Goshen Township in Mahoning County near Andrews Honda on state Route 62.

Lockridge told police he was stealing to support a drug addiction, the news release said.

He was released from jail on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in Alliance Municipal Court at 1:30 p.m. today.