Takeuchi Skid Steer Stolen in Lakeland Recovered in Melbourne by Multiple Florida Agencies
- March 5, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of January 19, 2012, the owner of United Rentals in Lakeland, Florida, noticed that a Takeuchi Skid Steer was missing from their lot, where it was last seen the previous night. He immediately contacted the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to report the theft.
After completing a stolen vehicle report, the Polk County officers had the stolen equipment’s information entered into the state and federal crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle. Neither the owner nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Approximately five hours after being entered as stolen, a trooper with the Florida Highway Patrol picked up the silent LoJack signal from the skid steer on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in his department vehicle. At the same time, a pilot from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s Aviation Unit also picked up the signal in his department helicopter. Using the directional and signal strength indicators on their tracking units, they located the skid steer on the lot of a construction company in Melbourne, Florida. The owner of the company stated that he had no idea how the equipment was on his lot. Fingerprints were lifted from the vehicle and the investigation is pending.
The skid steer was recovered with no damage and returned to the very happy owner. The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the skid steer at the owner’s request in April 2011.