Denver woman taking matters into her own hands after SUV targeted twice by thieves

DENVER — Anna Scopp is taking issues into her personal arms after she says her SUV was focused twice by thieves.

“I’m not going to let myself be a passive participant on this. Someone must do one thing,” she informed Denver7.

Scopp says somebody stole what they thought was the catalytic converter from her 2008 Lexus RX400H twice in a matter of some months.

The primary theft occurred close to her house in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood final November when Scopp was out of city. The second time occurred on Feb. 9 on close by Tennyson Road when she was at her morning yoga class.

“I parked my automotive about 5:50 proper in entrance of my yoga studio, fairly a busy road. I went inside, went to my class, got here out simply after 7 a.m. After I turned my automotive on, instantly, as a result of I acknowledged that sound,” mentioned Scopp.

She reported each incidents to Denver police.

Scopp says she felt like police weren’t doing sufficient to assist following the primary incident, so she approached the second theft in a different way. She obtained surveillance footage of the February theft from the proprietor of Voghera Restaurant, which exhibits a person stealing an element from beneath her automotive then strolling away.

“As soon as I used to be capable of acquire the video, I believe that form of actually sparked one thing in them realizing like, ‘You already know, perhaps we are able to truly clear up this incident,’” mentioned Scopp.

She took her SUV to the Stevinson Lexus Dealership for repairs each occasions, solely to seek out out one thing else.

“They mainly informed me, ‘Based mostly upon the image you despatched me, I truly assume they missed your catalytic converter they usually reduce your resonator,’ which is definitely what occurred each occasions. It is part of the muffler system that they reduce, however they don’t seem to be even good sufficient to chop the appropriate factor,” mentioned Scopp.

A catalytic converter and a resonator look pretty related, and sit subsequent to one another beneath a car.

The Denver Police Division informed Denver7 each instances are open, and detectives are checking with neighboring companies to see if there’s different video from the February theft.

To date this yr, 465 catalytic converter thefts have been reported in Denver as of February 23, in line with Denver police. Investigators say they’re reaching out to Scopp to supply some ideas so this does not occur for a 3rd time.

Scopp says she is doing all the things she will be able to to ensure the suspect within the video is caught.

“If these folks know that the folks you are victimizing usually are not going to take a seat on the sidelines and do nothing, perhaps it is going to deter folks sooner or later,” she mentioned.

Denver PD says catalytic converter thefts could be exhausting to research since they do not have a serial quantity to trace again to the car and proprietor if recovered. Officers counsel engraving your catalytic converters with serial numbers or different markings to discourage thieves and assist with figuring out functions.

DPD says it plans to carry a theft prevention occasion this month. Denver7 will let you already know when a selected date is ready.