Man who had 1,200 catalytic converters in storage arraigned

Shelton Deshawn Ford, 49, was arraigned Thursday after he was arrested in May when police executed a search warrant on a storage unit containing over 1,200 catalytic converters.

In a statement released Thursday, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said that Ford faced 18 misdemeanor counts of unlawful purchase or sale of a used catalytic converter.

At the time of the arrest, Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Vincent Cole said police had been investigating Ford since January 2022. Through the investigation, police collected enough evidence to obtain a search warrant on the storage unit near the 3600 block of Washington Street, across from Sky Harbor International Airport.

“It was about mid-January, the officers received a tip at this storage unit of someone storing catalytic converters.” Det. Adam Popelier said in a Twitter video posted by Phoenix police in May. “They checked in on it at that time and couldn’t identify any of them as stolen. They found the owner of the unit and conducted surveillance on the individual.”

Popelier said they tailed Ford for about three months, witnessing him do “hand-to-hand buys and sells” of catalytic converters, later storing them at the unit police searched.

Police estimated the total of the catalytic converters to be around $195,000.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the charges against Ford are possible thanks to a 2022 law.

“The law enacted nearly a year ago is a new tool we can use to prosecute those who possess one or more used catalytic converters, thus holding these perpetrators accountable in accordance with the law,” Mitchell said in the statement released Thursday.

Motorists are able to participate in free etching events, where identifiable information is etched onto the catalytic converter that can serve as evidence.