Date: April 29, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
PROVIDENCE – Three Rhode Island men have been charged in federal court in Providence for their alleged roles in a conspiracy to steal and sell hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of catalytic converters, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.
Kuron Mitchell, of Newport, Alberto Rivera, of Cranston, and Luis Aceituno, of Providence, are each charged by way of a federal criminal complaint with interstate transportation of stolen property in excess of $5,000 and conspiracy to commit the same. Additionally, Aceituno is charged with filing false tax returns.
According to charging documents, in January 2022, the Cranston Police Department began tracking patterns surrounding the thefts of catalytic converters. A criminal group was later identified as allegedly being 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. It is alleged that many of the stolen catalytic converters were sold to a Providence company (identified in court documents as Company 1) that recycles catalytic converters. Depending on the model and type of precious metal component, the average scrap price for catalytic converters ranged from $300 to $1,500.
Charging documents reflect that from at least January 2021 until November 2022, Rivera, Aceituno, Mitchell, and others canvassed neighborhoods and parking lots in search of unoccupied vehicles from which they could steal catalytic converters. Working in groups, they allegedly targeted vehicles in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, cut off the catalytic converters, and sold many of them to Company 1.
An FBI analysis of Company 1’s databases seized during a court-authorized search of the business in February 2023, and a review of a database maintained by Rhode Island Attorney General Bureau of Criminal Identification, revealed that from 2021 to 2022, Rivera allegedly sold 19 catalytic converters and received $7,100; and Aceituno allegedly sold 2128 catalytic converters to Company 1 and received $699,735.
In addition to his alleged participation in the conspiracy to steal and sell catalytic converters, it is further alleged that Luis Aceituno failed to disclose to the IRS income derived from the sale of catalytic converters in tax years 2021 and 2022. It is alleged that for tax years 2021 and 2022, Aceituno failed to report a total of $699,735 in income and failed to pay a total of $199,908 due to the IRS.
Luis Aceituno appeared in U.S. District Court on Monday and was released on unsecured bond; Kuron Mitchell appeared in U.S. District on April 25, 2024, and was ordered released to home detention with GPS monitoring; Alberto Rivera is currently detained on charges unrelated to this matter.
A federal criminal complaint is merely an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Paul F. Daly, Jr., and Julie M. White.
The matter was investigated by the FBI, Cranston Police Department, Providence Police Department, IRS-Criminal Investigation, United States Marshal Service, National Insurance Crime Bureau, Newport Police Department, Fitchburg State University Police, Watertown Police Department, Canton Police Department, Attleboro Police Department, Fall River Police Department, and Department of Veterans Affairs- Office of Inspector General-Criminal Investigations Division.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.