Auto salvage firm operator pleads guilty to selling stolen converters

A 45-year-old man described by the U.S. Department of Justice as the owner of DG Auto South of Emporia, Virginia, has pleaded guilty to crimes related to stolen catalytic converters.

Theodore Papouloglou, a North Carolina resident, pleaded guilty to theft and tax charges this week related to his participation in what the DOJ Eastern District of Virginia office calls a multistate catalytic converter theft conspiracy.

The department says Papouloglou used his business, DG Auto South, to purchase stolen catalytic converters from thieves and then transported the stolen catalytic converters to his co-conspirators in New Jersey for shipment of the catalytic metals to Japan.

Car and truck catalytic converters, which can contain high-value platinum group metals (platinum, palladium and rhodium), have been common targets for thieves throughout this decade as the value of those metals has traded in a lofty range.

Papouloglou also allegedly helped his co-conspirators in New Jersey purchase stolen catalytic converters from other sources, including sellers in Texas and Oklahoma, by facilitating bulk cash payments, with the total value of the funds transferred surpassing $6.6 million.

In 2020 and 2021, the DOJ says Papouloglou received more than $12.2 million in wired payments from his co-conspirators in New Jersey, including for proceeds from his "illicit sale of catalytic converters.” Papouloglou allegedly spent the money on personal expenses, such as purchasing real estate and a luxury motorcycle for his girlfriend and to gamble at casinos in Las Vegas, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ also says Papouloglou paid no taxes in 2020 and 2021.

As part of the plea, Papouloglou has agreed to forfeit several vehicles associated with the offense, including two McLarens, a Ferrari and a Lamborghini.

Papouloglou is scheduled to be sentenced next February and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, though the DOJ says actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.