It depends on what you are accused of doing. Taking a converter is theft, graded by its value, and cutting one off a vehicle can also be charged as misdemeanor vehicle tampering. Buying a used converter from a seller the law does not allow is an infraction with fines of $1,000 to $4,000, and altering a converter’s identifying marks, or knowingly possessing three or more converters with altered marks, is a misdemeanor.

Theft: how the charge is graded

A converter is graded like other stolen property, by its “reasonable and fair market value” (Penal Code section 484(a)). The prosecution has to prove that value.

  • $950 or less: petty theft, a misdemeanor, unless the person has a prior conviction for certain very serious offenses or for an offense requiring sex offender registration (Penal Code section 490.2). Under Penal Code section 666.1, added by Proposition 36 in 2024, a person with two or more prior convictions for listed theft-related offenses can instead face up to a year in county jail or a felony sentence.
  • More than $950: grand theft (Penal Code section 487(a)), punishable by up to a year in county jail or a felony sentence (Penal Code section 489(c)). The grand theft page covers that exposure in more depth.

Values can be added together when several converters are involved. Section 487(e) allows distinct but related takings motivated by one intention, one general impulse, and one plan to be combined into one grand theft count, and Penal Code section 490.3, also added by Proposition 36, allows the value of property from one or more acts of theft to be aggregated into a single count.

Removing a converter: vehicle tampering

Vehicle Code section 10852 makes it unlawful to willfully injure or tamper with a vehicle or to “break or remove any part of a vehicle without the consent of the owner.” The charge does not depend on the converter’s value. Vehicle Code section 40000.9 makes it a misdemeanor, and because section 10852 sets no penalty of its own, the Vehicle Code’s default applies: a maximum of six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine, alone or combined (Vehicle Code section 42002).

Buying a used converter: who you can buy from

Vehicle Code section 10852.5, in effect since January 1, 2023, limits who a person may buy a used, detached converter from, including for dismantling, recycling, or smelting. The permitted sellers are:

  • a licensed automobile dismantler;
  • a core recycler with a fixed place of business that obtained the converter under the recycler rules;
  • a licensed motor vehicle manufacturer, dealer, or lessor-retailer;
  • a licensed automotive repair dealer;
  • another licensed business that may reasonably generate, possess, or sell used converters; or
  • an individual with documentation of lawful ownership, such as a title or registration for the vehicle the converter came from, showing a vehicle identification number that matches the number permanently marked on the converter.

Buying from anyone else is an infraction: $1,000 for a first offense, $2,000 for a second, and $4,000 for a third or later offense. The rule does not cover a reconditioned or refurbished converter sold at retail.

Selling to a recycler

Business and Professions Code section 21610 governs sales to a core recycler. Unless it has a qualifying written agreement with the seller, the recycler cannot pay until it has a photograph or video of you and of the converter, copied your driver’s license or government ID, taken your written statement of how you got the converter, and confirmed you are a seller section 10852.5 allows. Payment cannot be cash, and for most individual sellers it is mailed or collected on the third business day after the sale. Giving a false or fictitious statement for the recycler’s required records is a misdemeanor.

Converters with altered markings

Vehicle Code section 10753, in effect since January 1, 2024, makes it a misdemeanor to remove, alter, or obfuscate a vehicle identification number or other unique marking added to a catalytic converter, and a separate misdemeanor to knowingly possess three or more converters with a removed, altered, or obfuscated number or marking. The statute exempts re-marking a converter that is being lawfully installed on a different vehicle, and disassembling, smelting, or otherwise permanently destroying a converter lawfully in your possession. Like section 10852, it states no penalty of its own, so the same section 42002 maximums apply.

What “possession” exposes you to

Under the state statutes above, having a detached converter is not by itself a crime. Exposure comes from knowingly possessing three or more converters with altered markings (section 10753), buying one from a seller section 10852.5 does not allow, or buying, receiving, concealing, or withholding a converter knowing it was stolen, which is receiving stolen property under Penal Code section 496(a). That charge requires proof that you knew the converter was stolen. At $950 or less it is a misdemeanor unless you have a prior conviction for certain very serious offenses or one requiring sex offender registration; above $950 it can be charged as a misdemeanor or a felony. A separate rule, section 496(b), reaches swap meet vendors and people whose principal business is dealing in or collecting merchandise who buy stolen property without the reasonable inquiry the circumstances called for.

Local law can add more. In the City of Los Angeles, Municipal Code section 56.32, added by Ordinance No. 187818 effective June 5, 2023, makes it a misdemeanor for anyone other than a core recycler to possess a catalytic converter that is not attached to a vehicle without valid documentation or other proof of lawful possession. Each converter counts as a separate violation, and each carries the same six-month jail and $1,000 fine maximums. Check the local code where the arrest happened.

What matters for your case

  • Whether you are accused of taking, buying, selling, or simply having a converter
  • How many converters are involved, and whether any markings were removed or altered
  • Whether you have documentation tying each converter to a vehicle and to your lawful possession
  • What value the prosecution can prove for a theft or receiving charge
  • Where it happened, since a city ordinance may apply

The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can look at what you are charged with and what the evidence can and cannot prove. Call (800) 755-5174 to discuss your case.