Family Sentenced For Running Catalytic Converter Ring In Philly Region

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Six family members have been sentenced for operating a multi-million-dollar catalytic converter theft ring throughout the Philadelphia region, authorities said.

The ringleader owned a Philadelphia towing company that was busted in June 2023 after a nearly yearlong investigation, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said.

Six suspects —all family members —were sentenced on Monday for their roles in the ring, including several who lived in Montgomery County.

The investigation found that TDI Towing had bought 27,300 catalytic converters for at least three years, an average of 175 catalytic converters a week, authorities said.

TDI employees were paid an average of $300 per catalytic converter, for a total of nearly $8.2 million during the three years, authorities said.

At that time, authorities said the theft of catalytic converters had skyrocketed in Bucks County and surrounding counties because of the money the catalytic converters could fetch at scrap yards.

The investigation included detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, and three dozen local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Philadelphia, and New Jersey.

Michael Williams, who owned and operated TDI Towing at 2335 Wheatsheaf Lane in Philadelphia, his three sons-in-law, Michael Bruce, Kevin Schwartz, and Patrick Hopkins, his wife Deborah Davalos, and her sister Lisa Davalos were sentenced on Monday.

On June 27, Williams, Bruce, Schwartz, Hopkins, and Deborah Davalos pleaded guilty. Lisa Davalos entered a no-contest plea.

These were the sentences against the family:

• Williams, 53, of Huntingdon Valley, was sentenced to 2 ½ to 5 years in state prison, followed by a consecutive term of two years of probation. He was also ordered to pay $124,900 to 157 victims, authorities said.
• Bruce, 32, of Sewell, N.J., was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day at the Bucks County Correctional Facility.
• Both Schwartz, 34, and Hopkins, 25, both of Huntingdon Valley, were sentenced to nine months to 23 months at the county jail.
• Lisa Davalos, 49, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 90 days to 23 months in the county jail.
• Deborah Davalos, 52, of Huntingdon Valley, was sentenced to two years of probation.

The catalytic converter thieves, known as “cutters,” were previously sentenced.