Home Burglarized, Keys & Toyota Siena Stolen — Recovered Quickly by Orange County Officers
- June 15, 2012
- recovery stories
On the afternoon of April 11, 2012, a friend called the owner of a 2012 Toyota Siena to alert him that his van was missing from the driveway of his residence, where the owner had parked the previous night. The friend told him that his home had been burglarized and the keys to the van were among several items missing from the home.
The owner immediately contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to report the theft. After completing the stolen vehicle report, Orange County deputies had the Siena’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Siena, prompting the transponder to begin emitting a silent homing signal. Neither the owner nor law enforcement agents had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Vehicle Recovery Network, as LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Approximately one hour later, a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 unit picked up the Siena’s homing signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in his department vehicle. Using the directional and signal strength indicators on his PTC, he quickly located the van parked in an apartment complex in the Lockhart section of the county. The deputy called an unmarked unit to the scene, and set up surveillance on the Siena. Approximately fifteen minutes later, a man approached the van, climbed in, and started the ignition with a key. Police immediately blocked the suspect and apprehended him inside the van.
The vehicle was recovered without any damage and returned to the very happy owner. The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota Siena at the owner’s request in February 2012.