Witness ID Leads to Arrest of Juvenile Suspect for Theft of Two Vehicles Recovered in Colorado
- March 29, 2012
- recovery stories
On the morning of March 7, 2012, while on routine patrol, officers with the Arvada and Wheat Ridge Police Departments began receiving the silent homing signals from a stolen Dodge truck in their vicinity. When the officers queried the LoJack code appearing on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles, they were notified that they were tracking a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500 that was reported stolen minutes earlier to the Lakewood Police Department.
Along with investigators from the Metro Auto Theft Task Force (MATT), the officers used the directional and signal strength cues from the Tracking Computer to track and quickly locate the stolen Dodge Ram.
At the recovery location – the rear of an apartment building in Wheat Ridge – officers also found a second stolen vehicle, a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. This Pontiac had been stolen over a month ago, but was not equipped with a LoJack system. The officers located a witness, who saw the Dodge truck being dropped off just prior to the police’s arrival. A Wheat Ridge Police School Resource Officer recognized the suspect’s description; the suspect was quickly located at school, and was later positively identified by the witness as the driver of the Dodge pickup. This juvenile suspect was wearing an ankle monitor after being placed on probation for prior auto theft adjudication.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in this Dodge Ram at the owner’s request in December 2008.