Quick Recovery of Mini Cooper in Los Angeles Leads to Recovery of 2nd Stolen Vehicle and Suspect's Arrest
- January 23, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of January 5, 2012, the owners of a 2002 Mini Cooper S contacted the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division to report the vehicle stolen.
LAPD responded to the scene, prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the stolen Mini Cooper’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Mini Cooper and initiated the tracking of the vehicle.
Five minutes later, LAPD Air-8 picked up the LoJack signal from the stolen Mini Cooper on the Police Tracking Computer installed in their aircraft. Air-8 requested LAPD’s Wilshire Division ground units to assist in locating the vehicle. The ground units tracked the vehicle to the area of Vineyard Avenue and Saturn Street, where they located the vehicle, parked and unoccupied. At the scene, the officers discovered that a 2001 BMW 525, parked directly behind the stolen Mini, had also been reported stolen to the LAPD’s Wilshire Division. After a short surveillance, the officers began to impound both vehicles when they observed a male suspect standing on the street nearby. The suspect looked in the officers’ direction, and then took off running. The officers quickly took the suspect into custody and located the keys to the stolen Mini Cooper in his pocket. The suspect was arrested for Grand Theft Auto. Both stolen vehicles were recovered and the owners notified. Wilshire Detectives are conducting the follow-up investigation.