Armed Robbery Suspects Commits Burglary to Steal Toyota Highlander as Getaway Vehicle
- March 13, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of February 22, 2012, a 2006 Toyota Highlander was parked in the owner’s garage when a person inside of the home observed a male subject drive the vehicle out of the garage, with the family’s Trek bicycle in the rack. The witness quickly reported the crime to the Raleigh Police Department (RPD). Unbeknownst to the victim, the suspect had just committed an armed robbery in the area; he ran from that crime scene and into the housing development to locate a getaway vehicle.
After obtaining the pertinent information about the theft, the Raleigh Police entered the stolen Highlander’s vehicle information into the state and federal crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Highlander. 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.
Within minutes, RPD officers began receiving the LoJack homing signal from the Toyota Highlander with the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in their patrol units. The tracking signal was received in the Six Forks Road and Spring Forrest Road area of north Raleigh. Following the directional and audible signal of the tracking computer, the officers traveled north on Six Forks Road into an apartment complex off of Newton Road. There, they found the Highlander, backed into a space in the parking lot. The suspect had abandoned the Highlander, and removed the bike from the rack. Officers searched the surrounding wooded area, locating the bike a short distance away from the Highlander. Officers with K-9 tracking located the suspect and recovered the Highlander’s car keys in the suspect’s pants pocket. The Highlander and bike were processed for latent evidence and returned to the owner without damage. The suspect was jailed for armed robbery, burglary, and larceny.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota Highlander at the former New York owner’s request in January 2006.