Man Sentenced to 9 Months for Stealing Dozens of Catalytic Converters from Around St. Louis

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel on Friday sentenced a man from East St. Louis, Illinois to nine months in prison for stealing 39 catalytic converters from trucks and vans around the St. Louis, Missouri area.

Matthew Jennings, 31, was also ordered to repay $46,001 to victims.

Beginning in December of 2019, Jennings and his co-defendant, D’Ante Carter, stole a total of 39 catalytic converters and tried to steal three more, primarily from pickup trucks and vans parked overnight at landscaping companies, other commercial businesses and an organization that helps those with disabilities.

Carter was the lookout and Jennings used a reciprocating saw to cut away the converters, which contain trace amounts of precious metals. The men then sold the converters to a recycling company in Illinois.

Carter, 38, of Florissant, was sentenced in September to nine months in prison and ordered to repay victims after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to transport and sell stolen goods. 

Jennings pleaded guilty in November to the same charge.

The FBI and the St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Creve Coeur, Bridgeton, Maryland Heights, O’Fallon, Missouri and Webster Groves police departments investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John Ware prosecuted the case.