CARMEL, Ind -- Police credited quick-thinking employees at a Carmel business with helping them arrest two people they think ripped off catalytic converters from cars in the parking lot.

Jeanne Swisher, 23, and Theron Moss, 28, both of West Lafayette, were pulled over on Interstate 465 on Monday afternoon, 6News' Rick Hightower reported.

Police said they found a power saw and three converters in the car, which had just left a parking lot on 103rd Street.

Tony Joyce's Toyota 4Runner was one of the vehicles hit during the day as employees came back to work from lunch.

"One of the HR ladies from another office was coming back from lunch and heard them underneath my truck with the saw," Joyce said.

Swisher and Moss were charged with theft and were released on bond from the Hamilton County Jail.

"Great work by those employees for being observant and … calling us," said Carmel police Lt. Jeff Horner. "They definitely helped us catch these two, and hopefully that will eliminate some of the thefts we've been having."

Horner said nearly a dozen converters have recently been stolen from vehicles in Carmel parking lots along U.S. 31.

Mechanics said the part has become increasingly more valuable because of the small amounts of precious metals, such as platinum, contained inside the converters.

The part can cost more than $1,000 to replace, depending on the car. Joyce will have to pay at least $500, his insurance deductible.

"One of the guys here at the office, his actually got stolen twice," Joyce said. "Two weeks after he got it replaced, it got stolen again."

Thieves sell the converters to scrap yards, where they are sold again to people who extract the valuable metals. One converter can fetch up to $200 at a scrap yard.

Police said employees got the license plate number from the suspects' car while another employee followed the vehicle until police made the traffic stop.

It's fairly easy to tell if a converter has been stolen from a vehicle. When it starts, there will be excessive noise from the exhaust area.