During his sentencing hearing in federal court on June 13, Eric Kaltenbach was described as a “pawn” in a catalytic converter theft ring, but a persistent one.
From January 2020 through 2021, investigators say thousands of catalytic converters were stolen in Springfield and southwest Missouri. And Kaltenbach, court records say, began stealing the auto parts at the outset of the crime wave and continued stealing them even after the theft ring’s leader, Evan Marshall, was arrested in October of 2021.
In total, seven people were indicted in connection with the theft ring, which investigators say cost victims at least a million dollars in loss. They include Marshall, the leader, two mid-level participants who knowingly bought stolen catalytic converters and four thieves. All seven have pleaded guilty, and all but one has been sentenced. Kaltenbach, 38, on Tuesday received the biggest punishment — 54 months in federal prison plus three years of supervised release — of any of the three thieves who have been sentenced so far.
Citing Kaltenbach’s extensive history of theft and his lack of cooperation in the investigation, prosecutors asked for 60 months, the maximum punishment for the one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines he pleaded guilty to. Kaltenbach’s attorney requested 48. U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool, while critiquing the legal sentencing limits imposed on him regarding the theft, said he issued the 54-month sentence because Kaltenbach pleaded guilty to the crime rather than exercise his right to a trial.
Marshall was sentenced last December to over five years in prison after pleading guilty to scheming to defraud as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that resulted in two firearms-related charges and one charge of conspiring to defraud the United States being dropped.
During the nearly two-year span of the theft ring, Marshall’s resale business flourished thanks in part to a network of thieves who sold the auto parts, valuable for their precious metals, to Marshall or to one of several middlemen working for him.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Marshall refused to buy a catalytic converter from Kaltenbach after a victim in Rogersville posted surveillance footage on social media showing the converter being stolen.
“When Kaltenbach went to sell the stolen catalytic converter, Marshall would not purchase it because he had seen the surveillance footage and was upset with Kaltenbach for stealing a catalytic converter in the town in which he lived,” the release states. “Marshall instructed Kaltenbach to not steal catalytic converters in Rogersville; after this incident, Kaltenbach did not steal catalytic converters from vehicles in Rogersville but continued to steal catalytic converters from victims’ vehicles in Springfield. At times, Kaltenbach sold five or six stolen catalytic converters per transaction.”
Linking converters to thieves is a challenge
Because catalytic converters are not easily traced to the vehicle they were stolen from, there were only four known victims linked directly to Kaltenbach, according to the release. In federal court on Tuesday, Harpool ordered that Kaltenbach pay $2,625.70 in restitution to them, as well as an imposed money judgment of $17,374.21. The $20,000 total equaled what investigators said Kaltenbach is known to have been paid for his part in the theft ring.
Harpool told Kaltenbach that others took in far more money from the stolen goods, which were trucked to a company in Arkansas. The company wired Marshall hundreds of thousands of dollars every month to buy catalytic converters. No one involved with the company, which is not named in federal records, was indicted. Harpool said Kaltenbach was a “pawn of this enterprise” compared to others at the top.
“Shame on them, but that’s not a defense for you,” Harpool said of those who made far more money than Kaltenbach.
Kaltenbach, through his attorney, asked that Harpool recommend him for a federal prison program that would train him to become a welder during his time behind bars. He apologized to victims and said he hoped to “stack the deck in my favor” in advance of his release.
Co-defendants Enx Khoshaba (four years, $15,986 in restitution) and Danielle Ice (18 months, $1,355) have previously been sentenced for their roles in stealing catalytic converters. One more participant, Leslie Ice, awaits sentencing in late July.
