TULSA – Federal, state and local law enforcement partners from across the U.S. executed a coordinated takedown last November of leaders and associates of a national network of thieves, dealers, and processors for their suspected roles in conspiracies involving stolen catalytic converters sold to a metal refinery for more than half a billion dollars.
Amidst a rise in catalytic converter thefts across the country, the U.S. Justice Department carried out Operation Heavy Metal that targeted “a multimillion-dollar catalytic converter theft network,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said.
Arrests, searches and seizures occurred in Oklahoma, California, Wyoming, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia. In total, 21 individuals in five states were arrested and/or charged for their roles in the conspiracy.
The suspects were named in two separate indictments that were unsealed Nov. 2 in the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Eastern District of California after extensive law enforcement arrest and search operations.
In addition to the indictments, more than 32 search warrants were executed and law enforcement officers seized millions of dollars in assets, including homes, bank accounts, cash, and several luxury vehicles.
One of those search warrants was executed at a $1.7 million home in Holmdel, New Jersey, reportedly owned by one of the suspects, Navin “Lovin” Khanna. On his Instagram account was a photo of a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a catalytic converter.
The California indictment claims Khanna operated DG Auto, which has facilities in New Jersey and Wisconsin, government records show. Prosecutors allege that DG Auto purchased stolen catalytic converters and resold them.
Cases to be prosecuted in Tulsa federal court
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Oklahoma (based in Tulsa) returned a 40‑count indictment charging 13 defendants with conspiracy to receive stolen catalytic converters, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and other related charges.
According to court documents, together the defendants bought stolen catalytic converters from thieves on the street, then resold and shipped them to DG Auto in New Jersey for processing. “In all of these incidents, most of the catalytic converters sold to DG Auto were stolen, and DG Auto knew or should have known that when they paid for them,” federal prosecutor Johnson said.
“In Tulsa alone, more than 2,000 catalytic converters were stolen in the past year,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson for the Northern District of Oklahoma. “Organized criminal activity, including the large-scale theft of catalytic converters, is costly to victims.”
Over the course of the conspiracy, federal prosecutors allege:
• Tyler James Curtis, 26, of Wagoner, received more than $13 million in wired funds from DG Auto for the shipment of catalytic converters and received more than $500,000 from Capital Cores for catalytic converters.
• Adam G. Sharkey, 26, of West Islip, New York, received more than $45 million in wired funds from DG Auto.
• Martynas Macerauskas, 28, of Leila Lake, Texas, received more than $6 million in payments from DG Auto for catalytic converters.
Besides Curtis, seven other defendants also are Oklahomans: Benjamin Robert Mansour, 24, Bixby; Reiss Nicole Biby, 24, Wagoner; Ryan David LaRue 29, Broken Bow; Brian Pate Thomas, 25, Choteau; Parker Star Weavel, 25, Tahlequah; Shane Allen Minnick, 26, Haskell; and Michael Anthony “Big Mike” Rhoden, 26, Kiefer.
The three other suspects charged in Tulsa’s federal district court are Kristina McKay Macerauskas, 21, of Leila Lake, Texas; Robert Gary Sharkey, 57, of Babylon, New York; and Navin Khanna, 39, of Holmdel, New Jersey.
Several of the defendants have been granted continuances until the August and October trial dockets, and some may not appear in court until next year, court records indicate. Navin Khanna, for example, has not yet appeared in Tulsa’s federal court to respond to the charges facing him in Oklahoma.
California case
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of California returned a 40‑count indictment charging nine defendants with conspiracy to transport stolen catalytic converters, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and other related charges.
According to court documents, brothers Tou Sue Vang, 31, and Andrew Vang, 27, and Monica Moua, all of Sacramento, allegedly operated an unlicensed business from their personal residence in Sacramento where they bought stolen catalytic converters from local thieves and shipped them to DG Auto Parts LLC in New Jersey for processing. The Vang family allegedly sold more than $38 million in stolen catalytic converters to DG Auto.
Defendants Navin Khanna, 39; Tinu Khanna, a/k/a Gagan Khanna, 35; Daniel Dolan, 44; Chi Mo, aka David Mo, 37; Wright Louis Mosley, 50; and Ishu Lakra, 24, all of New Jersey, operated DG Auto in multiple locations in New Jersey.
They knowingly purchased stolen catalytic converters and, through a “de-canning” process, extracted the precious metal powders from the catalytic core, investigators and prosecutors allege. DG Auto sold the precious metal powders it processed from California and elsewhere to a metal refinery for more than $545 million, the investigation showed.
“With California’s higher emission standards, our community has become a hotbed for catalytic converter theft,” said U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert for the Eastern District of California. “Last year approximately 1,600 catalytic converters were reportedly stolen in California each month, and California accounts for 37% of all catalytic converter theft claims nationwide.”
“Just like the precious metal inside every catalytic converter, there’s a money trail at the core of every criminal scheme,” said Chief Jim Lee of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
“Operation Heavy Metal” was led by Homeland Security Investigations and IRS-Criminal Investigation.