Acura RL Stolen by Roommate and Recovered in Minutes; Roommate Arrested
- March 13, 2012
- recovery stories
On February 13, 2012, the owner of a 1996 Acura RL contacted the Hawthorne Police Department to report that her vehicle had been stolen by her roommate. Hawthorne officers gathered the necessary information to file a stolen vehicle report, and had this 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 owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is seamless.
Eighteen minutes later, LASD Compton Station deputies picked up the LoJack signal from the stolen Acura RL on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in their patrol vehicle. Following the computer’s cues, they tracked the signal to a residential driveway in the 600 block of Aprilia Avenue. There, they located the parked vehicle, with a male suspect standing in the driveway nearby. The deputies detained the suspect, and while questioning him, they observed a female suspect matching the description in the crime report. They detained her as well, and in the course of their investigation, determined that she was, in fact, the named suspect. She then admitted to the theft of the vehicle.
The male suspect was questioned and released. The female suspect was arrested for Embezzlement of a Vehicle. The follow-up investigation is being conducted by the Hawthorne Police Department, along with detectives from Compton Station.