Homeless catalytic converter thief arrested again in Fountain Valley

On January 3, 2021 at 0302 hours, Fountain Valley Police Department Officers responded to the area of Talbert and Mt. Washington regarding a small fire.

When the police officers arrived, they located 50 year-old Felipe Batalla, a transient of Fountain Valley.

Some of you may remember Mr. Batalla from a recent press release regarding catalytic converter arrests (Incident #20-42155).

During this investigation, Officers found a shopping cart next to Batalla which contained 3 cut catalytic converters and a reciprocating saw.

Batalla was arrested (again) for possession of stolen property, possession of burglary tools, and providing false information to a Police Officer.

Mr. Batalla was subsequently booked into Orange County Jail for these charges. Incident #21-00170.

Art Pedroza Editor

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

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