Scrap yard owner sentenced for possessing stolen catalytic converters

A1 Scrap Metal Recycling Ltd. in January 2023. (Brandon Lynch/CTV News Edmonton)

A man has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison for buying more than 700 stolen catalytic converters as well as drug possession and firearms charges.

Tekie Awte was charged in January 2023 after a six-month investigation into his business, A1 Scrap Metal Recycling Ltd., by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS).

The catalytic converters, valued at $1,400,000, were found at the scrap yard in November 2022 along with cocaine and fentanyl with a street value of $465,000, an unlawfully owned handgun, and nearly $10,000 in Canadian currency.

On Wednesday Awte appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit to plead guilty to all the charges against him.

A judge accepted a joint submission by the Crown and Awte’s defence lawyer for sentencing.

A former police officer and chair of Justice Studies at Norquest College says Awte got off with a light sentence.

“He made a deal with the Crown, and oftentimes that results in a lower end sentencing because the person is taking responsibility,” Dan Jones told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

“But we also know that sentencing doesn’t reduce crime in any way. If you sentence them to 10 years, people aren’t going to stop stealing catalytic converters.”

He says catalytic converter theft in particular is difficult to track.

“If I went into your house and stole your TV and I took it to a pawn shop, I have to give ID at that pawn shop. With catalytic converters and metal sales, I don’t have to give ID. So it’s one of those crimes that becomes hard to detect,” he said.

“It’s one of those crimes that it’s a high reward, low risk.”

According to EPS catalytic converter thefts peaked in 2023 with more than 1,600 reported thefts.

That number dropped to 560 in 2024 and 372 up to the third quarter of 2025.

The most targeted vehicles in Edmonton for catalytic converter theft in 2025 were the Mitsubishi RVR, the Hyundai Santa Fe, and the Hyundai Tucson.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti