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A Rhode Island man pleaded guilty this week to failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income that he received from selling stolen catalytic converters to a local scrap yard.

U.S. Attorney Charles C. Calenda reported that Daniel Rivera pleaded guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns in U.S. District Court in Providence. Rivera is scheduled to be sentenced on June.

Charging documents reflect that from at least January 2021 until November 2022, Rivera and others searched neighborhoods and parking lots in Rhode Island and Massachusetts looking for unoccupied vehicles from which they could steal catalytic converters. Many of the stolen catalytic converters were sold to a Providence company that recycles them. Depending on the model and type of precious metal component, the average scrap price for catalytic converters ranged from $300 to $1,500.

According to prosecutors, Rivera received approximately $59,890 from stolen catalytic converter sales in 2021 and $224,750 in 2022 but failed to report those amounts on his federal income tax returns. As a result, Rivera’s false filings caused tax losses of approximately $13,426 for the tax year 2021 and $55,930 for the tax year 2022.

This is the latest development in a law enforcement campaign to disrupt catalytic converter theft rings.

In April 2025, three other Rhode Island men were charged for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to steal and sell hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of catalytic converters. According to federal prosecutors, Kuron Mitchell, of Newport, Alberto Rivera, of Cranston, and Luis Aceituno, of Providence, were each charged with interstate transportation of stolen property in excess of $5,000 and conspiracy. Additionally, Aceituno was charged with filing false tax returns.

Rivera allegedly sold 19 catalytic converters and received $7,100; and Aceituno allegedly sold 2,128 catalytic converters and received $699,735. Prosecutors further alleged that Aceituno failed to disclose to the IRS income of $699,735 from the sale of converters and failed to pay a total of $199,908 due to the IRS.

A federal criminal complaint is merely an accusation and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Also, according to, in January 2022, the Cranston Police Department began tracking patterns surrounding the thefts of catalytic converters. Police later identified a group they alleged were responsible for more than 7,000 stolen catalytic converters in southern New England and in the greater Boston area, valued at more than $2.4 million.

Last October, a man who orchestrated the thefts of catalytic converters from nearly 500 vehicles, multiple jewelry store robberies and the stealing of banks’ automated teller machines was sentenced in federal court in Boston.

Topics Fraud