OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A new study ranks Oklahoma top 10 in the country for growth in catalytic convertor thefts, with about seven-times more thefts in our state in 2021 compared to 2020.

And this week, an Oklahoma City man said his catalytic convertor was stolen right in front of his home in broad daylight.

“I didn’t know they stole the catalytic converter until the next day when I started the vehicle up and heard the roar,” said Chad Drewery.

He said he was both shocked and deeply annoyed.

In surveillance video from Monday shown to KFOR, you can see two masked people approach Drewery’s car in Southwest Oklahoma City. One of them crawls under it to cut out his catalytic converter while the other individual keeps watch.

“It’s frustrating when you work hard for the things, that you have just to watch someone brazenly without any fear of being caught just vandalize and steal from you,” Drewery said.

A new national study by BeenVerified reports Oklahoma catalytic converter thefts grew about seven-fold from 2020 to 2021, jumping from about 59 thefts to 442.

“So, Oklahoma was a top hot spot for catalytic converter thefts,” said BeenVerified Consumer Advocate Kerry Sherin. “In 2021, they ranked seventh in the nation for the largest increase in catalytic converter thefts. Looking at 2019 through 2021 and comparing all three years, Oklahoma has seen a 2,000 percent increase in catalytic converter thefts.”

She also shared that for the first six months of 2022, Oklahoma has seen about a 30 percent increase over the first six month of 2021, with 281 and 217, respectively.

Drewery has filed a police report for his vehicle and hopes police can catch the suspects.