Catalytic converter thefts put four men in jail

Prosecutor: Thieves traded car parts for cash

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

"I don't think they were part of a conspiracy to build a criminal enterprise, … [but] I haven't heard of any more catalytic converters getting stolen," St. Mary's Assistant State's Attorney Daniel White said in a recent interview after the last of the initial sentencing proceedings in the case.

Donald Bert Gray Sr., 42, of Hollywood was sentenced to serve 18 months in jail, in addition to about eight months served in pretrial confinement, on his guilty plea to a charge of attempted theft and his acknowledgment that prosecutors had evidence against him on a charge of conspiring to steal the property of six people and four businesses.

Gray was granted work-release privileges, and he was ordered to pay $4,259 in restitution.

"They were equally culpable," White later said of the four men who were indicted, during the interview at his office across a hall from the courtroom of Circuit Judge Michael J. Stamm.

The judge ordered that Gray be on five years of supervised probation after his release.

A probation violation could result in Gray being sent to state prison for the unserved balance of a five-year sentence.

A sentencing guidelines worksheet complied by the state division of parole and probation listed Gray as having a major criminal record, and recommended that he should serve between 16 and 30 years in prison.

Earlier this year, the judge sentenced John J. Reeder, 39, of Mechanicsville to serve eight years in prison from his guilty plea to his role in carrying out the theft scheme that took place over a three-month period toward the end of 2007.

St. Mary's Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Stanalonis told the judge that 11 thefts were committed during the rash of crimes in which Reeder and the other culprits used cutting tools to remove catalytic converters from vehicles' exhaust systems, and took them to Charles County to sell them to scrap metal dealers.

During his pretrial custody, Reeder was released last November to go to a funeral, Stanalonis said, but Reeder failed to report back to the jail, and remained a wanted man until he was again taken into custody four months later. Police found him in Iowa.

"Mr. Reeder did cooperate in the investigation in this case," the prosecutor said, "and has agreed to continue that cooperation."

Reeder's lawyer told the judge, "He took full ownership of his participation in the activities. He does have a problem with cocaine, which has resulted in very poor choices."

When his opportunity came to speak to the judge, Reeder said, "I'll just say thank you very much."

Stamm sentenced Reeder to 15 years in prison on the theft scheme charge, suspended to the eight-year term on the condition that he pay $3,804 in restitution and attend counseling during five years of supervised probation.

The judge sentenced Reeder to also serve six months for his second-degree escape from the jail, and ordered that he pay $1,966 for the cost of extraditing him back to Maryland.

Reeder's lawyer said his client hoped to have his probation transferred to Missouri after his release from his prison and jail sentences.

Gray and Reeder were identified as culprits in the car-parts thefts when Robert Waldschmitt spotted them in November 2007 stealing the converter from his Lincoln Town Car in Hollywood, according to charging papers filed by Cpl. David Alexander of the St. Mary's Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

The two other participants in the thefts included 42-year-old Patrick K. Guy of Hollywood, who pleaded guilty to a theft charge and was sentenced to seven years in prison, suspended to 18 months in jail with work-release privileges, $455 in restitution and five years of supervised probation.

"If you come back with a [probation] violation, you will serve the remaining five-and-a-half years," Stamm said at a sentencing hearing last winter. "The key is in your pocket."

Guy was back in court by springtime. He was seeking reconsideration of his sentence to home detention, on grounds that he was receiving insufficient medical care at the jail for head and neck injuries from a car accident, and was being kept in isolation.

"All of this is from using his vehicle to take a copper coil," his lawyer said. Charging papers alleged that Guy aided in a burglary at Simmons Heating and Air Conditioning in Hollywood in November 2007 by storing the copper and other property stolen from the business at his home for two days before taking it to Waldorf.

Stamm declined to grant Guy's request at that time, but a further reconsideration request in August was followed by a series of ongoing hearings on Guy's participation in an adult drug court program.

In February, James T. Jones, 36, of Hollywood pleaded guilty to the second-degree burglary at Frank Simmons' business and a second-degree assault two days later on detective Charles Earle. Charging papers alleged that Jones smashed a window in a sheriff's office holding cell and punched the investigator in the head.

Jones was sentenced to serve 18 months in jail with work-release privileges for the burglary offense, and a suspended one-year sentence on the assault charge.

Jones and Guy initially were also charged with stealing a catalytic converter.

jwharton@somdnews.com