El Monte Air-44 Unit Assists with Recovery of Stolen Lexus ES300 — Suspect Arrested
- March 30, 2012
- recovery stories
On March 9, 2012, El Monte Police Department’s Air-44 flight officers had just lifted off from their helipad when they picked up the silent LoJack signal from a 2003 Lexus ES300 that had been entered as stolen minutes prior by LAPD Pacific Division. The signal appeared to be in motion, so Air-44 alerted ground units from the El Monte and Baldwin Park Police Departments. After a few minutes of tracking the signal on their aircraft’s LoJack Police Tracking Computer, Air-44 noticed that the vehicle was moving eastbound on the 10 Freeway into the West Covina area.
The West Covina Police Department was alerted to the direction of the stolen vehicle. One of the West Covina police units was sitting on the freeway at Vincent Avenue when the stolen Lexus passed right by. The officer followed behind the Lexus until sufficient back-up units arrived. When the police attempted a felony stop of the vehicle, the suspect sped away quickly. He was eventually stopped at Via Verde and the 10 Freeway; he was taken into custody without further incident or damage to the vehicle.
Police questioned the suspect as to how he had obtained the vehicle; he admitted working on it, and later decided to steal it. He was later booked Receiving Stolen Property and Failure to Yield. The undamaged Lexus was recovered by police and stored for safekeeping until it could be returned to the owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Lexus GS300 in April 2006 by Lexus of Santa Monica.