Thieves Fail to "Foil" Police by Wrapping Stolen Harley Davidson in Aluminum Foil — Bike Recovered, Two Arrested
- February 22, 2012
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2009 Harley Davidson motorcycle purchased the bike without knowledge that it was equipped with a LoJack Vehicle Recovery System. In the early morning hours of February 1, 2012, he discovered how well the system worked.
On that morning, the owner discovered that the motorcycle had been stolen from his apartment complex on Gaffney Lane in Oregon City. Upon discovery of the theft, he contacted the Oregon City Police Department. Responding officers filed a stolen vehicle report and had information about the Harley Davidson Sportster entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Harley and initiated the tracking of the motorcycle.
A few minutes later, officers from several local police agencies began to receive the silent LoJack signal from the Harley on the Lojack Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. The audio and visual cues shown on the computer display directed them to a residence in the 500 block of South Center Street in Oregon City. The indicators on the display in the patrol cars told officers the bike was inside a garage attached to the residence. No one answered the door, so the officers obtained a warrant to search the garage, based upon the LoJack signal.
Once inside the garage, the officers discovered the stolen Harley. The thieves had wrapped major components of the bike with aluminum foil. Officers surmised this was done in an attempt to suppress the LoJack signal if the bike was so equipped. That effort did not work.
Residents of the house finally acknowledge the officer’s presence and let them in. Two suspects were interviewed and arrested. LoJack was installed in September of 2008 when the bike was new.