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"Try to Catch Me," Taunts Thief of Toyota Solara Before Broward County Deputies Arrest Him Hours Later

  • March 20, 2012
  • recovery stories
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On Christmas Eve — Friday, December 24, 2011 — the owner of a 2004 Toyota Solara 4-door sedan contacted the Coral Springs Police Department to report the vehicle stolen. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officer met with the owner, who advised that she left to do some last-minute Christmas shopping and left her ex-boyfriend sleeping inside her house. When she returned, she discovered that her ex-boyfriend, her keys and her car were missing. The owner contacted the ex-boyfriend, who told her that he wasn’t going to return her car. The ex-boyfriend then refused to answer all subsequent calls and text messages.
Based on this information, the officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the Toyota’s information entered into the federal and state crime computers. This routine police procedure automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Toyota Solara.
In the early hours of Christmas morning, the officer received a phone call from the suspect. When the officer advised the suspect that the vehicle was now reported stolen, that he was facing arrest for Grand Theft Auto and that must return the vehicle, the suspect replied, “Try to catch me – you’ll have to be real fast”.
Shortly thereafter, the officer was advised that deputies from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office had received the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Toyota’s LoJack unit, and that they were tracking the stolen vehicle with their patrol car’s LoJack Police Tracking Computer. Following the computer’s directional signals, they located the Toyota sedan, near S.W. 30th Avenue and 10th Street in Deerfield Beach. The suspect, who was driving the vehicle, was arrested. The Toyota was recovered, towed to the police impound yard for safekeeping, and removed from federal-state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in this Toyota Solara 4-door sedan on March 31, 2004, and has been protecting it ever since.


Printed from the LoJack Recovery Story Library.

LoJack® unit activation is contingent upon the vehicle being located within LoJack’s coverage area that spans counties across 29 states throughout the U.S. and District of Columbia. You may find LoJack’s coverage areas at www.lojack.com/coverage or by calling 1-800-4-LoJack.

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