Prosecutors say two Dothan brothers recently pleaded guilty to multiple thefts of catalytic converters across the city, including a catalytic converter from a hearse.
Assistant Houston County District Attorney Banks Smith said both Christopher Kelly Keyes, 33, and George Alexander Keys, 31, pleaded guilty to multiple felony theft charges. Smith said both men pleaded guilty to nine second-degree theft of property charges and two misdemeanor third-degree theft charges.
Smith said Circuit Court Judge Butch Binford sentenced both men to 17 years for each of the felony theft charges, which are to run concurrently with each other. They both also received a year in jail for each of the two misdemeanor charges, but those are to be served concurrently with the felony charges.
Smith said both men had prior felony convictions, which elevated their possible sentence range to 15 years to life for each felony charge.
Dothan police arrested the two brothers in August 2011 for stealing catalytic converters from multiple vehicles across the city. Catalytic converters are part of a vehicle’s exhaust system and are a target of thieves because of the precious metals inside them, which can include platinum and palladium.
“They are brothers and they were operating as a team. They would go up under cars and cut the catalytic converter. They’re valuable for scrap,” Smith said. “It was a catalytic converter crime spree. I think they were targeting businesses that owned vehicles, and I think they’re easier to get up underneath.”
Robert Byrd, the Houston County coroner, who also owns Sunset Memorial Park Funeral Home, said one of the thefts left his hearse sounding like a race car when it was started.
Court records indicate police charged the brothers with stealing a catalytic converter from a vehicle that belonged to Northside Assembly of God church. One of the other victims listed, according to court records, included Enterprise Rental Car.
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