Feds reach plea deal with 2 Minnesota men tied to national catalytic converter theft ring

Two Minnesota men have pleaded guilty to federal crimes tied to a national catalytic converter theft ring.

James Dillon Jensen and Soe Nye Moo reached a plea agreement with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to records filed in federal court this week. The duo was indicted last October for their role as “intermediary buyers” in an organized effort to cut, ship and sell stolen catalytic converters.

Two others indicted at the same time, John Charles Kotten and Justin Tyme Johnson, have pleaded not guilty.

In his plea agreement, Jensen admitted to driving stolen catalytic converters from Minnesota to a buyer in Prescott, Wisconsin, over a six-month period in 2022. Court records show Jensen stole and sold the car parts to “support an active drug addiction.”

Federal prosecutors say Moo was a “point of contact” for “street-level cutters” who allowed catalytic converter thieves to bring the stolen car parts to his St. Paul home, where people like Jensen, Johnson and Kotten could buy them and bring them to scrap yards.

RELATED: Scrapped: New calls to close loopholes ‘exacerbating’ catalytic converter theft in Minnesota

Moo pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun in August 2022 during an exchange of stolen catalytic converters.

Prosecutors previously said Moo sold at least 380 stolen catalytic converters to Kotten in March 2021. Kotten bought them for nearly $250,000, according to a federal indictment.

Nearly a year later, prosecutors say the duo connected again for a sale worth at least $25,000.

Both Jensen and Moo could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The conspiracy brought in at least $21 million between May 2020 and October 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis. 

RELATED: Scrap metal database now available to police investigating thefts of catalytic converters

Reports of catalytic converter thefts spiked to more than 13,000 in 2022 but dropped to 5,800 last year, according to data from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). While the prices for the precious metals inside catalytic converters plummeted, law enforcement also credits a national takedown of theft rings for the reduction.

In August, the BCA rolled out a new centralized database to track certain purchases at the state’s scrap yards. As 5 INVESTIGATES previously reported, the state attempted to launch a similar database a decade ago before the Legislature nixed the plan.

The two-year $190,000 contract highlights the ability of the BCA to “maintain a list of suspicious sellers.”