Three Rhode Island men are facing federal charges for their alleged involvement in a widespread conspiracy to steal and sell hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of catalytic converters, Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom announced today.
Kuron Mitchell, 25, of Newport, Alberto Rivera, 25, of Cranston, and Luis Aceituno, 27, of Providence, have each been charged via a federal criminal complaint with interstate transportation of stolen property in excess of $5,000 and conspiracy to commit the same. Additionally, Aceituno faces a charge of filing false tax returns.
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According to the charging documents, the Cranston Police Department initiated an investigation in January 2022 into a pattern of catalytic converter thefts. This investigation allegedly identified a criminal group responsible for the theft of over 7,000 catalytic converters across Southern New England and the greater Boston area, with an estimated value exceeding $2.4 million.
Authorities allege that a significant number of these stolen parts were sold to a Providence-based catalytic converter recycling company, identified in court documents as “Company 1.” The average scrap price for these converters ranged from $300 to $1,500, depending on the model and the type of precious metals they contained.
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The charging documents detail that, from at least January 2021 until November 2022, Rivera, Aceituno, Mitchell, and others allegedly operated by canvassing neighborhoods and parking lots in search of unattended vehicles. Working in coordinated groups, they are accused of targeting vehicles in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, cutting off the catalytic converters, and subsequently selling many of them to Company 1.
An FBI analysis of Company 1’s databases, seized during a court-authorized search in February 2023, along with a review of records maintained by the Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification, revealed the extent of the alleged transactions. The documents indicate that between 2021 and 2022, Rivera allegedly sold 19 catalytic converters for $7,100, while Aceituno allegedly sold a staggering 2,128 catalytic converters to Company 1, receiving $699,735 in return.
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In addition to his alleged participation in the theft and sale conspiracy, Luis Aceituno is also accused of failing to report the income derived from these sales to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the 2021 and 2022 tax years. It is alleged that he failed to disclose a total of $699,735 in income and consequently failed to pay a total of $199,908 in taxes owed to the IRS.
Luis Aceituno made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Monday and was released on an unsecured bond. Kuron Mitchell appeared in U.S. District Court on April 25, 2024, and was ordered released to home detention with GPS monitoring. Alberto Rivera is currently in custody on charges unrelated to this case.
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