Woman sentenced for helping boyfriend with Columbus-area catalytic converter theft ring

Jordan Laird, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read

Shannon Vance formed the limited liability company TC's Buy Sell Trade that allowed her boyfriend, Tommy D. Cox Jr., and his theft ring to sell catalytic converters stolen around the Columbus area, according to Franklin County prosecutors.

Over the course of about 15 months, Cox's criminal operation stole more than 1,100 catalytic converters from vehicles and sold them to recycling companies for more than $400,000, prosecutors said.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Daniel Hawkins sentenced Vance, 47, on Wednesday to three years of probation for her guilty plea in February to one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity for her role in the criminal scheme. Prosecutors dropped other charges.

Tommy D. Cox Jr., 42, of the South Side, (center) appeared March 8 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court for sentencing with his attorneys Ric Daniell (left) and county assistant public defense attorney Isa Mauch (right). Prosecutors say Cox lead a theft ring that over the course of about 15 months stole more than 1,100 catalytic converters from Columbus area residents' vehicles and sold them to recycling companies for more than $400,000.

Hawkins also ordered Vance not to contact her codefendants, including her boyfriend, or face potential prison time.

Earlier this month, Hawkins sentenced Cox on 15 felony counts to an indefinite prison term of eight years to 12 years.

Past reporting:Columbus man accused of running catalytic converter theft ring

More:Columbus man sentenced for role in theft ring that stole over 1,100 catalytic converters

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Ian Jones said Cox and his co-conspirators trained and paid people desperate for money or struggling with addiction to cut the valuable converters off vehicles where they sat, which Cox has denied.

Catalytic converters are exhaust emission-control devices that can fetch several hundred to thousands of dollars due to the precious metals they comprise, including palladium, platinum and rhodium. Ohio law permits individuals to sell only one catalytic converter a day.

Prosecutors say that's why Vance and Cox needed the limited liability company. Vance registered TC's Buy Sell Trade LLC with the state in November 2020 with a registered address at 1929 Brown Road, a former carryout restaurant building near Frank Road in Franklin Township. A check by The Dispatch on Wednesday with the Ohio Secretary of State found the limited liability company is still registered as active.

Building on the 1900 block of Brown Road where Shannon Vance, 47, registered TC's Buy Sell Trade LLC that Franklin County prosecutors say allowed her boyfriend, Tommy D. Cox Jr., to operate a catalytic converter theft rings with converters stolen from around the Columbus area.
Building on the 1900 block of Brown Road where Shannon Vance, 47, registered TC's Buy Sell Trade LLC that Franklin County prosecutors say allowed her boyfriend, Tommy D. Cox Jr., to operate a catalytic converter theft rings with converters stolen from around the Columbus area.

Grand juries indicted five others on charges in connection to the converter theft ring, which Groveport police first uncovered.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus woman sentenced to probation in catalytic converter thefts