SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Three southwestern Missouri men have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a scheme to transport tens of thousands of stolen catalytic converters across state lines as part of a multi-million-dollar business.
“These three defendants were the ringleaders of a scheme that impacted thousands of area residents,” said U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore. “We worked closely with a number of our law enforcement partners to shut down their multi-million-dollar operation and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Evan Marshall, 25, of Rogersville, Cody Ryder, 31, of Springfield, and Camren Joseph Davis, 25, of Rogersville, were sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool.
Marshall was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also imposed a $750,000 fine against Marshall, ordered him to pay $19,133 in restitution to victims of the conspiracy, and to forfeit to the government dozens of firearms, several vehicles and trailers, and 191 catalytic converters.
Ryder was sentenced to two years and five months in federal prison without parole. Davis was sentenced to five years of probation. The court also imposed fines of $125,000 each against Ryder and Davis.
Marshall pleaded guilty in June to one count of transporting stolen property across state lines. Ryder pleaded guilty in June and Davis pleaded guilty in April to their roles in the conspiracy.
Co-defendants Enx Khoshaba, 30, Leslie Ice, 38, and Eric Kaltenbach, 38, all of Springfield, and Danielle Ice, 34, of Columbia (formerly of Springfield), have also pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy to transport stolen property across state lines and await sentencing.
Marshall began selling the catalytic converters to a company in Mountain Home, Arkansas, in the fall of 2019. In the late fall of 2019, the owners of the Mountain Home company asked Marshall if he would begin purchasing catalytic converters in southwest Missouri and sell to them exclusively. Marshall agreed to do so; in return, they regularly provided Marshall with cash so that Marshall had the funds to purchase a higher volume of catalytic converters.
By January 2020, the owners of the Mountain Home company were wiring Marshall hundreds of thousands of dollars on a monthly basis so that Marshall could purchase a higher volume of detached catalytic converters.
By December 2019, Marshall had enlisted Davis to work for him, and in February 2021, Marshall also enlisted Ryder to work for him and his company. Both Davis’s and Ryder’s job was to purchase catalytic converters using cash Marshall provided. Both Davis and Ryder admitted to each buying at least 1,500 stolen catalytic converters from thieves and selling them to Marshall for a total amount of approximately $500,000 between the two of them.
Many of the catalytic converters that Davis and Ryder purchased with the cash Marshall provided them were stolen, and Marshall knew this at the time, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
From December 2019 through October 2021, in addition to utilizing Davis and Ryder as buyers, Marshall also purchased stolen catalytic converters directly from thieves.
Marshall admitted that he knowingly purchased stolen catalytic converters from co-defendants Davis, Ryder, Ice, Kaltenbach, Khoshaba, and at least six other thieves, according to the release. Marshall transported and sold almost all of the catalytic converters, including the stolen catalytic converters, to the owners of the Mountain Home business.
Marshall, Davis, Ryder and others hauled trailers that each contained between 800 and 1,200 catalytic converters, many of them stolen, from Rogersville to Mountain Home. Marshall transported catalytic converters from Rogersville to Mountain Home approximately every two weeks from December 2019 through October 2021, according to the release.
