Christmas Day Theft of Honda Accord Leads Police to One Arrest, Additional Arrests Pending
- January 20, 2012
- recovery stories
On Christmas Day, December 25, 2011, the owner of a 2007 Honda Accord was in the process of loading the vehicle with Christmas presents while the vehicle was running in the driveway of their residence in Gahanna, Ohio. The owner briefly went inside his home; while he was away, unknown suspects climbed into the vehicle. When the owner came back outside, he saw the vehicle driving away and immediately contacted the Gahanna Police Department to report the theft.
Gahanna Police responded to the scene, prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the stolen Honda’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Honda and initiated the tracking of the vehicle.
A short while later, officers with the Columbus Police Department received the Honda’s silent LoJack signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in their patrol vehicle. Following the computer cues, the officers tracked and located the stolen Accord parked in a residential area of Columbus. As the officers approached the vehicle, they observed that it was occupied, and the vehicle quickly sped off. With the assistance of the Columbus Police Aviation Unit, officers followed the vehicle. The suspects then attempted to flee on foot; one was arrested on the scene. Additional arrests are pending. The Accord was recovered and impounded by the Columbus Police, with some of the Christmas gifts still in the trunk.
Because of the quick recovery the Accord had no damage. The suspects did not have enough time to strip it or use it to commit any other crimes. However, the suspects had changed the vehicle’s license plate — a practice that has become more common among auto thieves in order to elude law enforcement vehicles equipped with license plate readers.
The owner was very happy that the original owner had LoJack installed when they purchased the Accord from Coggin Honda in May 2007.