Volkswagen Jetta Stolen in Wheat Ridge Recovered Abandoned at Motel, One Suspect Arrested
- March 29, 2012
- recovery stories
When the owners of a used car dealership discovered that an employee had taken a 1998 Volskwagen Jetta without permission, they tried for several days to locate the vehicle. When they were unable to do so, they reported the theft to the Wheat Ridge Police Department. It was the police department’s routine entry of the vehicle information into the nationwide law enforcement stolen vehicle computer system that automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle. LoJack is the only theft recovery system that is directly operated by law enforcement. This interface is both seamless and instantaneous.
Minutes later, troopers with the Colorado State Patrol and the Denver Metro Auto Theft Task Force began picking up the silent homing signals from the stolen Volkswagen with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) installed in their patrol cars. After querying the LoJack code appearing on the PTC display screens, the officers received both confirmation that they were tracking the stolen Volkswagen and a full description of the vehicle. Following the directional and signal strength cues from the PTC, the officers tracked the stolen Volkswagen to a motel in Wheat Ridge. Follow-up investigation by the officers resulted in the arrest of the suspect on auto charges and outstanding warrants unrelated to the auto theft case.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Volkswagen Jetta at the previous owner’s request in California eleven years earlier.