Mercedes-Benz Coupe Stolen in Coral Gables, Recovered by Miami K-9 Officer Abandoned in Supermarket Lot
- March 21, 2012
- recovery stories
On Sunday morning, February 5, 2012, the ex-husband of the owner of a 2000 Mercedes-Benz CLK-320 2-door coupe contacted the Coral Gables Police Department to report the vehicle stolen. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officer met with the ex-husband, who stated that he had parked the Mercedes-Benz in his driveway on Friday evening at 6:30pm and that when he returned at 8:30pm he discovered it missing. Police could not determine why the ex-husband took so long to report the vehicle stolen.
The officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the vehicle’s information entered into the federal-state crime computers. This routine police procedure automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Mercedes-Benz.
Later that morning, a Miami Police Department K-9 officer received the silent LoJack radio signal from the stolen Mercedes-Benz’s LoJack unit on his patrol car’s LoJack Police Tracking Computer. Following the computer’s directional and signal strength cues, the officer, along with backup, located the Mercedes abandoned in a supermarket parking lot in the 1500 block of Douglas Road. Because the vehicle was in Coral Gables jurisdiction, an officer requested that Coral Gables Police handle the recovery, The Mercedes-Benz was recovered in good condition, towed to the police impound yard for safekeeping, and removed from the federal and state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in this Mercedes-Benz coupe on April 20, 2000, and has been protecting it ever since.