(La Porte, IN) - La Porte City Police are looking for a thief who seems to have a cold heart.  The La Porte Salvation Army was the victim. 

 

A van the charitable organization uses to collect food from local supermarkets and restaurants for the needy had its catalytic converter taken sometime over the weekend.  A volunteer, about to make a food run, made the discovery Monday after starting the engine of the van outside the Salvation Army on Monroe Steet and hearing the exhaust system blaring.

 

Salvation Army Chris Karlin says it’s troubling to be among the victims in a rash of catalytic converter thefts because the van is heavily relied on to serve the less fortunate.  The van is used to collect about 10,000 pounds of food every week.  “It’s definitely disheartening that somebody would do this,” he said.

 

Catalytic converter thieves often use cutting tools to remove the air pollution reduction devices from the metal exhaust systems of vehicles and sell them for their high scrap value.

 

Fortunately, Karlin said the runs continued because of volunteers offering their pick-up trucks to use to gather the food.  Karlin said a local mechanic is putting on a new catalytic converter and he expects to have the van back today to resume the food runs.