Man accused in string of catalytic converter thefts
Man accused in string of catalytic converter thefts
By The Gillette News Record
Via Wyoming News Exchange
GILLETTE — The Gillette man accused of a string of thefts of catalytic converters earlier this month now faces additional charges of burglary and drug possession.
Jeremy Ryan Buxton, 40, is the suspect in the theft of at least nine and as many as 37 catalytic converters from different locations in Gillette in late September and early October.
The converters reduce emissions on cars and don’t come cheap. Gillette police estimate that it costs about $3,000 to replace one.
After learning that nine converters had been cut off of vehicles at S&S Builders on Enterprise Avenue on Oct. 7, police were led to Buxton in several ways, according to an affidavit of probable cause:
Pacific Recycling told police that Buxton had sold it a large number of converters recently. Receipts for the past 30 days shows 37 different catalytic converters sold to the business, and he was paid $3,603 for them as salvage material. Earlier, Gillette police had identified as many as 19 converters whose owners had reported that they were missing.
Footprints left behind at the scene showed a distinct rectangular impression with a Swiss-style cross inside the borders, according to the affidavit. Those prints matched a pair of work boots later found in Buxton’s apartment.
Bicycle tracks at S&S next to the footprints were unique and were followed by two tire tracks indicating a bicycle was pulling a trailer. Those treads were seen leading between each vehicle that had incurred damage. In Buxton’s kitchen, police found a bicycle with the same tread patterns. A mount for a trailer that was attached to the side.
The converters had been cut with a reciprocating saw, and a package for reciprocating saw blades and five used blades were found discarded at S&S. In Buxton’s Ford Fusion, police found four more worn out saw blades and in his apartment found a DeWalt reciprocating saw, several new packages of blades and four batteries for the saw, one of which was being recharged. A headlamp also was being charged.
Police asked Buxton about where he had acquired the catalytic converters that he’d sold to Pacific Recycling and he said they came from “random vehicles and abandoned ones.”
He was arrested and charged with felony theft and destruction of property, for which the maximum penalty for each is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Two days later, the owner of a hotel where Buxton had been staying called police. He’d been cleaning out a room Buxton had rented because Buxton was behind on his rent and was being kicked out. He came across items belonging to a local woman, including her passport.
He contacted her and showed her property that he’d found, including three suitcases, a bowl full of keys, various ID cards, a pink Bose speaker, red scissors and a black and yellow Actron code scanner.
The woman told police the items had been stolen from a house she was moving out of but she hadn’t been there since Sept. 22. When she returned Oct. 10 with police, the place was in disarray with drawers and cabinets standing open and items tossed around. There were broken cupboards and drawers and a broken window. The chain-link fence on the back of the house had been cut through and the lock to the backyard shed was broken. The total damage was estimated to be $500 to $700.
Also missing were her blue bike with hitch connector with a blue pull-behind kids’ trailer, which matched the description of the bicycle and trailer used in the thefts from S&S Builders, according to the affidavit.
Other items that were taken were two air conditioning units, two checkbooks, a welder, generator, chop saw, gauges, shop vac, welding helmet, air sander and a propane heater. The total value was “well over $1,000,” according to the affidavit.
Police looked up Buxton’s Facebook activity and found several posts in which he was trying to sell various tools — including several taken from the woman’s home that weren’t found in his apartment, “which would suggest he had already sold the items,” according to the affidavit.
Police also found meth residue in jeweler baggies, marijuana residue and a vape pen with about 0.1 grams of liquid THC.
He has been charged with two counts of burglary for entering the woman’s home and shed, two counts of possession involving meth and marijuana, and a misdemeanor count of destruction of property. The possession charges are felonies because he had convictions in 2015, 2018 and 2019 for possession, and they have a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Burglary carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
He remains in Campbell County jail.