The regional theft rings sent their stolen catalytic converters to DG Auto Parts in Freehold, New Jersey, who removed the precious metals from them and ground them into dust.

[4] According to a 2023 report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), metal recyclers will often "pay between $50 to $250 for a catalytic converter and up to $800 for one that was removed from a hybrid vehicle."

[11][12] The company specialized in mining kuroko ore, a rare black volcanic deposit found only in Japan and primarily in Akita Prefecture in the Hokuroku Basin.

According to an interview performed by Navin with ACE Finance, none of their prior endeavors succeeded until DG Auto Wreckers; this success was due to finding Dowa Metals & Mining America.

[11][14] A subpoena into the brothers' bank records corroborated the interview: between March 2021 and April 2022, a total of $224 million was transferred by Dowa into a single account used by DG Auto Parts.

[14] Curtis pleaded guilty or no contest in the Tulsa County District Court to the drug and firearm charges, receiving a three-year deferred sentence.

A regular delivery arrived from Houston, Texas, where the sellers specialized in "torpedo"-type catalytic converters – named for their distinctive shape – extracted from Toyota Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks.

[14] On March 31, 2022, in Houston, off-duty sheriff's deputy Darren Almendarez was grabbing groceries with his wife, and parked their Toyota Tundra outside of a Joe V's Smart Shop north of the city.

"[14] A week after Almendarez's death, the pole camera monitoring Curtis Cores recorded a black GMC pickup truck with Texas license plates pulling a U-Haul trailer of catalytic converters.

He also helped DG Auto Parts to buy catalytic converters from other sellers across state lines, including from Texas and Oklahoma, paying for these in bulk cash payments, with the total paid out by Papouloglou being at least $6.6 million.

[16] A federal indictment was filed on March 19, 2024, including four counts; two of evasion of income tax assessments, one of conspiracy to transfer, receive, conceal and sell stolen goods and one of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

[28] In 2021, Oregon passed a law requiring that scrap metal businesses make a record of all catalytic converter purchases, including the vehicle identification number that they came from.

Jenna Wilson, with whom he had an intermittent relationship with, helped with the accounting, while Benjamin Jamison (who Doyle had known since high school) met with prospective buyers and handled transactions.

[28] An officer from the Beaverton Police Department and a detective from Clackamas County, Oregon, provided information that pointed towards Hellbusch being a major source of stolen catalytic converters.

By mid–2022, two dozen officers from various entities were surveilling the Lake Oswego property and the Aurora warehouse, however, the department had difficulties proving that Doyle knew he was receiving stolen catalytic converters.

The wiretaps were so successful because of how indiscreet Doyle was with his dealings, he often called his friends to discuss the shipping of catalytic converters, which included who was performing the deliveries and what they contained.

[28] Over mid–2022, Phillip Kearney, then assistant special agent in charge at the Oregon Department of Justice, began seizing the ring's assets and intercepting their wire transfers.

[30] The investigation expanded to the state and federal level because Elevation Auto Core was a part of the larger theft ring, including a business in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[14] According to arrest papers in the case, undercover officers and confidential informants wearing cameras found they could walk in and easily sell "obviously stolen catalytic converters".

The catalytic converters were then (similar to the Curtis Cores operation) packaged and placed onto pallets to be transported out of state (most of which were sent to the "east coast" or overseas) or decanned on-site.

[34][41] Prior to Kotten's arrest, several search warrants relating to the ring were executed in November 2022 by the Sleepy Eye Police Department and the Brown County Sheriff's Office.

Two days after Robert Sharkey was stopped, Curtis flew to Newark Liberty International Airport and drove to DG Auto Parts while being followed by investigators.

[14][46] When federal investigators later obtained a wiretap for an employee of DG Auto Parts, they recorded Navin on August 5 telling him that traveling with money was too risky and that the police were "busting everybody".

[14] In September 2022, DG Auto Parts announced that it had secured funding out of its financial difficulties with private investment firm Barrett Edge, who praised the Khanna brothers as "consummate professionals".

[11] Simultaneously across the US, police executed more than 32 search warrants on locations used by the various organizations involved in the ring, seizing "homes, bank accounts, cash, and luxury vehicles", among other assets, which were valued at "tens of millions of dollars".

[11][14] Despite surveillance and bank records proving Dowa to be the source of DG Auto Parts' money, the company's name was withheld during the indictments against Curtis and the Khannas, only being referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.

[14] Lauren Horwood, a spokesperson for the Eastern District of California US Attorneys Office, described Operation Heavy Metal as the first national takedown of a catalytic converter theft ring by the Department of Justice.

[14][21] The District Attorney's office are seeking the death penalty for Joshua Stewart and Fredarius Clark, while Frederick Tardy, who was 17 at the time, was deemed too young.

"[63] A superseding indictment was unsealed on March 20, 2024, charging Tinu and Navin's mother, father and older brother, Anita, Nirmal and Michael Khanna with conspiracy to transport stolen catalytic converters from California to New Jersey.

The case alleged that, after Tinu and Navin were arrested, Anita, Nirmal and Michael continued buying and selling stolen catalytic converters under DG Auto Parts.