WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Andrew Rosebrough has become one the latest victims of a rising crime across South Florida: catalytic converter thefts.
"My phone was blowing up in the morning people saying these cars sound crazy," said Rosebrough, president of Portable Medical Diagnostics. "Don't know what's going on. We got underneath the cars. We saw the catalytic converter was gone,”
The thefts happened Sunday night at his mobile X-Ray and ultrasound company in West Palm Beach along Forest Hill Boulevard and Davis Road. He has multiple surveillance cameras set up but it wasn't enough to stop the two crooks from going after the parts, which experts say contain rare metals and can sell for for thousands of dollars.
“Something is covering it so you can’t actually read the license plate and the whole time they are keeping ducked down,” Rosebrough said.
Moments after pulling up in a white Honda Civic, the thieves immediately get to work with tools in hand and within five minutes they're gone.
In all, they got away with four converters impacting not just Rosebrough’s bottom line but also about 60 of his patients the next day.
“Its critical because the whole reason why we exist is to keep patients from going to the hospital. We’re trying to help the doctors that treat the patients at the bedside,” he said.
He filed a report with police and he’s hoping his surveillance video will lead to an arrest.
