RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A North Carolina scrap metal dealer and Emporia business owner was sentenced to over two years in prison for the part he played in a catalytic converter theft conspiracy that spanned multiple states.
On Wednesday, March 12, 45-year-old Theodore Nicholas Papouloglou of North Carolina was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for theft and fraud charges related to this conspiracy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
He previously pleaded guilty to these charges in Aug. 2024.
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Catalytic converters’ centers, or “cores,” use precious metals, including palladium, platinum and rhodium. As such metals can be sold at a high value, they are often targeted by thieves. In a press release from the time of Papouloglou’s guilty plea, the DOJ said that some metals used in catalytic converters “are more valuable per ounce than gold.”…