The Nampa Catalytic Converter Thieves Strike Again
It was a hot summer afternoon in the Treasure Valley and Mateo and I headed out to Nampa to move the radio station box truck ( heavy duty Ford F350 with a big cargo box in the rear instead of a regular truck bed that we use as a mobile billboard) . We arrived at the old K-Mart in Nampa where the truck had been sitting in an empty parking lot right by the road for brand exposure. Everything seemed normal until I climbed inside and started the engine. It was as if I was inside of a Nascar racecar. The noise coming from the truck exhaust was 30 times louder than normal. I immediately turned off the engine thinking that there must be something seriously wrong. After checking the oil and staring at the engine compartment I started it once again only to hear the same deafening roar of the engine. It was at that moment that I remembered hearing a story on the news about catalytic converters being stolen throughout the valley. I jumped out of the truck and immediately confirmed that the catalytic converter was gone.
Fast forward a month and the catalytic converter thieves have struck again in Nampa. this time they stole the converters out of two busses belonging to The Kangaroo Clubhouse, childcare and learning center. Tuesday In a 2 Idaho News interview Jennifer Koppes, owner of Kangaroo Clubhouse said . “There’s a lot of parents that are really upset, frustrated, nervous, they don’t really know what they’re going to do come tomorrow, and neither do we,"
The busses transport 50 of the 80 students at the Nampa location and with catalytic converters costing about $1000 the school is not able to afford to replace them. A GoFundMe account has been set up just in case you feel compelled to help.