Providence Man Pleads Guilty to Role in Multi-Million-Dollar Catalytic Converter Theft Scheme

PROVIDENCE – A Providence man has pleaded guilty in federal court in Rhode Island for participating in a conspiracy to steal and sell hundreds of dollars’ worth of stolen catalytic converters, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.

Luis Aceituno, 27, pleaded guilty today to charges of interstate transportation of stolen property and filing false tax returns.  He will be sentenced on January 22, 2026. The sentences imposed will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to charging documents, in January 2022, the Cranston Police Department began tracking patterns surrounding the thefts of catalytic converters. A criminal group was later identified as allegedly being responsible for more than 7,000 stolen catalytic converters in Southern New England and in the greater Boston area, valued at more than $2.4 million.

Charging documents reflect that from at least January 2021 until November 2022, Aceituno and other defendants, Kuron Mitchell, 25, and Alberto Rivera, 25, canvassed neighborhoods and parking lots in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in search of unoccupied vehicles from which they could steal catalytic converters. It is alleged that many of the stolen catalytic converters were sold to a Providence company (identified in court documents as Company 1) that recycles catalytic converters. Depending on the model and type of precious metal component, the average scrap price for catalytic converters ranged from $300 to $1,500.

An FBI analysis of Company 1’s databases seized during a court-authorized search of the business in February 2023, and a review of a database maintained by Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification, revealed that from 2021 to 2022, Aceituno allegedly sold 2128 catalytic converters to Company 1 and received $699,735.

In addition to his participation in the conspiracy to steal and sell catalytic converters, it is further alleged that Luis Aceituno failed to disclose to the IRS income derived from the sale of catalytic converters in tax years 2021 and 2022. It is alleged that for tax years 2021 and 2022, Aceituno failed to report a total of $699,735 in income and failed to pay a total of $199,908 due to the IRS.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul F. Daly, Jr., and Julie M. White.

The matter was investigated by the FBI, Cranston Police Department, Providence Police Department, IRS-Criminal Investigations, United States Marshal Service, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Newport Police Department, Fitchburg State University Police, Watertown Police Department, Canton Police Department, Attleboro Police Department, Fall River Police Department, and Department of Veterans Affairs- Office of Inspector General-Criminal Investigations Division.