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By Matt Sepic, Minnesota Public Radio News

Four Minnesota men appeared in a St. Paul federal courtroom on Tuesday to face charges that they sold $21 million worth of stolen catalytic converters to out-of-state buyers.

John Charles Kotten, 41, of Hutchinson, Minn.; James Dillon Jensen, 34, of Minneapolis; Justin Tyme Johnson, 32, and Soe Nye Moo, 31, both of St. Paul, each face charges of conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines. Kotten and Johnson, the alleged leaders, also face money laundering counts.

According to the newly-unsealed indictment, from May 2020 until Oct. 2022 the men purchased catalytic converters from “street-level cutters” who removed them from vehicles with power tools.

The Clean Air Act mandated catalytic converters in 1975. Precious metals including platinum, palladium, and rhodium react with vehicle exhaust to neutralize toxic gases. Those metals, and the relative ease of removing the devices from underneath vehicles, make catalytic converters an attractive target for thieves.

The cutters would sometimes sell directly to Kotten and Johnson. Moo and Jensen allegedly served as intermediary buyers when the others were unavailable.

In 2021, prosecutors say Kotten and Johnson loaded U-Haul trailers with stolen converters and took multiple trips to a buyer in New Jersey before flying back to Minnesota. At least three of the New Jersey trips netted the pair nearly $500,000.

Prosecutors say that the men sold 90 percent of their stolen stockpile to “high-volume buyers” in New Jersey, Oklahoma, Colorado and New York.

Johnson is alleged to have concealed payments for the stolen parts by directing purchasers to send the money to his father, his grandmother and a real estate title company.

The defendants also allegedly purchased scrap and junk cars legally to make it appear as if they were operating a legitimate recycling business.

In late 2021 authorities say the men bought batches of converters in several controlled sales. One of the devices had an Apple AirTag inside, which allowed investigators to track another large shipment worth $425,000 to a purchaser in New York.

In Aug. 2022, Moo is alleged to have traded stolen catalytic converters for firearms, including a gun with an illegal machine gun conversion device, for which he is also charged.

All four men pleaded not guilty and remain free as their case moves forward.