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A judge has handed sentences ranging from 15 months to five years to four Minnesota men who operated a high-volume catalytic converter theft ring. 

 John Charles Kotten, James Dillon Jensen, Justin Tyme Johnson and Soe Nye Moo on charges of selling $21 million worth of stolen catalytic converters to out-of-state scrap dealers. 

According to court documents, the men rented U-Haul trailers and took the pollution control devices to scrap in New York, New Jersey, Colorado and Oklahoma before flying back to Minnesota. 

All four pleaded guilty. Last week, Judge Eric Tostrud sentenced Johnson, 34, one of the group's leaders, to more than four years in prison.

Kotten, 43, also a ringleader, received five years at his sentencing hearing in June. Jensen, 36, received 15 months; Moo, 33, got two-and-a-half years. 

Prosecutors say the group used a phone app provided by a New York scrap dealer to find vehicles with the most valuable catalytic converters and gave orders to street-level thieves.

The Clean Air Act has mandated catalytic converters for a half century. Precious metals inside them react with vehicle exhaust to neutralize toxic gases. The valuable chemical elements such as platinum, palladium and rhodium — and the relative ease of removing the devices from underneath vehicles — make catalytic converters an 

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Four Minnesota men who operated a high-volume catalytic converter theft ring have been sentenced, ranging from 15 months to five years.

A man holds a replacement catalytic converter.

Judge hands sentences of 15 months to 5 years in catalytic converter theft scheme

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