Evansville police say they arrested a persistent thief early Monday morning.
Evansville police say when catalytic converters began disappearing recently from vehicles around the city, they started watching a suspect, 34-year old Edward Lee Payne, Jr.
In a release, police say over the weekend, they watched Payne return to the same vehicle three times. After the first two trips underneath a work vehicle at a commercial cleaning service, they observed saw marks on the vehicle’s tailpipe.
They say the third time, early Monday morning, Payne allegedly took the catalytic converter off the vehicle and drove away with it. He was caught a short time later.
The EPD thinks Payne may be responsible for other thefts of catalytic converters. If you have any information, you’re asked to call Evansville police or the WeTip line at 1-800-78-CRIME.
