TOLEDO, Ohio — Several employees from Toledo Assembly Complex say their catalytic converters were stolen in the parking lot.
Only two employees felt comfortable enough to come forward and speak out about this. But we had several others reach out to us saying it happened to them too. They were just afraid of potential retaliation from the company.
Rick Temple and John Marciniak have worked at Jeep for decades. They say this is now a daily problem and when they report it, nothing gets done.
Temple said his vehicle was targeted May 5.
"When his [Temple] got stolen, there were like 6 or 7 and it sounded like a NASCAR race in the parking lot," explained Marciniak. "I've had anxiety every day coming out to the parking lot. Sure enough, last Wednesday they got it."
Now, they're out thousands of dollars to fix it.
"It was a brand new truck, only two months old. It costs $7,500 to replace a catalytic converter," said Temple.
"I didn't get an estimate yet, but it's over $5,000," explained Marciniak.
Toledo Assembly Complex released a statement to us saying the company is evaluating its security measures to make sure it's doing everything possible to protect the safety of its employees and their property.
Temple said otherwise.
"I talked to the Union, talked to the chairman, tried to get an appointment with the plant manager, called the police, called the mayor's office," he explained. "Nobody shows up. Nobody does anything."
Toledo police say they received seven reports of stolen converters from the plant between March 15 and May 15 of this year.
Jeep officials said, "to stop this activity, suspects must be caught in the act or through video in order for police to make an arrest or for prosecutors to prosecute."
Marciniak was told something similar, but he doesn't think it's enough.
"I talked to the guard after the next day. I saw him sitting out there and I was told basically all he can do is observe and report," said Marciniak. "You can't even close the gates and try to block them in or anything."
The employees say they're hoping to get extra security on the property who will keep watch all day and night or close the gates so not everyone has access.