Burner phones. All-cash payments. And a ring of suppliers desperate to feed their addiction to fentanyl.

A sprawling investigation alleges all three were part of a $20 million stolen catalytic converter operation that led to dozens of charges against two local men.

Brennan Doyle and Tanner Hellbusch resold an estimated 40,000 catalytic converters — pocketing the proceeds over two years, prosecutors and detectives allege in court documents.

Washington County Circuit Court Judge Brandon Thompson last week approved the prosecution’s request to try Doyle and Hellbusch together later this year. The two, both 34, have remained out of custody since their arrest in August 2022.

A 50-page summary of the investigation recently filed in court includes new details about how the alleged scheme worked. Willamette Week first reported on the court filings.

Lead detective Patrick McNair wrote in the summary that Doyle was the architect of the network and lived in luxury in Lake Oswego off the money he made from hundreds of pallets of catalytic converters that he shipped to New Jersey. There, the pollution-cleaning devices were stripped for their valuable rare minerals, according to the summary.

Hellbusch, prosecutors allege, was the middle man: buying the converters from thieves and then reselling them to Doyle.

McNair wrote that the relationship between the two men was designed to supply a sheath of plausible deniability, but authorities believe Doyle was well aware he was trafficking in stolen goods.

“Doyle acknowledged that his business got out of control and grew faster than he could keep up with,” McNair wrote. “Rather than take steps to run a legitimate business, Doyle chose to continue to operate illegally while living a lavish lifestyle at the cost of his business’ legality.”

[READ MORE: How to deter a catalytic converter thief]

The report from McNair, who works for the Beaverton Police Department, identifies only about a half-dozen street-level suppliers accused of doing the risky work of jacking up cars in the dead of night and chopping off the torpedo-shaped converters from the belly of cars and trucks across the Portland metro area. Many of them have already cut plea deals and will likely testify at trial.

Doyle faces a 90-count criminal indictment accusing him of aggravated theft, money laundering, racketeering and unlawfully receiving stolen metal. Hellbusch faces a 25-count indictment filled with similar charges.

McNair wrote that Hellbusch used a prepaid “burner” phone to coordinate buying catalytic converters from people who told him that they were stolen.

Hellbusch purchased a prepaid phone and began conducting his business on the phone line, an indication that his operation wasn’t legitimate, the detective wrote.

Both Hellbusch and Doyle used payment apps or cash, according to McNair, and didn’t collect the information required under Oregon law for car parts dealers.

In one intercepted conversation in July 2022, according to McNair, a thief told Hellbusch that his attempt to steal a converter had gone well “for me, not for somebody who is probably starting their car this morning.”

Hellbusch responded with a stronger version of “screw ‘em,” according to the detective’s report.

In another intercepted call, Hellbusch and an associate discussed underpaying a thief who was addicted to “blues,” a slang term for fentanyl-laced opioid pills, according to the report.

Police monitored Hellbusch for more than five months, watching as he and associates transported numerous loads of converters to Doyle’s shop in Canby, according to McNair, who added that Hellbusch also posted memes about stealing catalytic converters on his social media pages.

The transports continued even after Beaverton officers pulled Hellbusch over while he was hauling a load of converters worth $80,000 in March 2020 for a traffic violation, according to the police report.

Hellbusch wasn’t arrested at the time, but the police contact put Doyle on guard, McNair wrote.

“Did he wipe his phone … I might have to cut ties with him,” Doyle texted an associate — who informed Doyle of Hellbusch’s traffic stop, according to McNair.

According to the court records, Doyle then discussed the traffic stop in a phone call with Cedrus Jahson King, a 26-year-old Medford resident who is charged in a separate 48-count catalytic converter racketeering case in Jackson County.

Attorneys for Doyle, Hellbusch didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. King’s attorney declined to comment.

Hellbusch and Doyle are set to face trial Oct. 29.

—Zane Sparling covers breaking news and courts for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-319-7083, zsparling@oregonian.com or @pdxzane.

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