A woman who once lived in Springfield pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday, Aug. 16, to her role in transporting thousands of stolen catalytic converters as part of a multimillion-dollar business.
Danielle Ice, 34, of Columbia, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to participating in a conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines.
Ice is the last of seven defendants indicted in this case to plead guilty. Ice’s husband and co-defendant Leslie Ice, 37, as well as co-defendants Cody Ryder, 31, Enx Khoshaba, 29, and Eric Kaltenbach, 37, all of Springfield, and Evan Marshall, 24, and Camren Joseph Davis, 25, of Rogersville, also have pleaded guilty.
With her plea, Danielle Ice admitted that she and Leslie Ice stole at least 50 catalytic converters and sold them directly to Marshall.
The Ices began stealing catalytic converters for Marshall in October 2020 and continued stealing them and selling them to Marshall through at least March 2021, according to a press release from Teresa A. Moore, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Would first take and send photo while catalytic converter still attached to vehicle
The Ices photographed the victims’ catalytic converters while the catalytic converters were still attached to the victims’ vehicles and texted the photographs to Marshall.
Marshall would then determine if the victims’ catalytic converters were valuable. If Marshall responded that a catalytic converter was valuable, Leslie Ice cut it from the exhaust system using a battery-powered reciprocating saw.
Marshall provided Leslie Ice with a list of vehicles — by year, make, and model — that had valuable catalytic converters.
Thieves steal catalytic converters because they contain precious metals such as rhodium, palladium and platinum.
Marshall has admitted that he transported stolen catalytic converters, valued at $1 million or more, across state lines from December 2019 to October 2021, according to the press release.
Marshall has also admitted that he bought tens of thousands of stolen catalytic converters directly from his co-defendants and from other thieves, and sold them for a total of approximately $1 million.
Danielle Ice is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
