Owner's Roommate Steals Subaru Impreza — Palm Beach Officers Quickly Locate Both
- April 24, 2012
- recovery stories
According to sources, on Saturday morning, March 3, 2012, the owner of a 2003 Subaru Impreza 4-door sedan contacted the West Palm Beach Police Department to report the vehicle stolen. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officer met with the owner of the Impreza, who stated that he had been entertaining some friends and when he wanted to use his car, he discovered it missing. The owner’s roommate and spare key were also missing. The owner contacted his roommate to see if he had his car. The roommate told the owner that he had left and walked to the store to get some additional beverages, but did not have the car.
The responding officer contacted the roommate and asked him if he had the car. Once again the roommate denied having the car, but refused to disclose his location to the officer. The officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the vehicle’s information entered into the federal and state crime computers. This routine police procedure automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Subaru Impreza.
Within minutes of activation, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy received the silent LoJack radio signal from the stolen Subaru, and began tracking it by following the directional and signal strength cues on his patrol car’s LoJack Police Tracking Computer. The deputy, along with backup, quickly located the vehicle in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant in the 1700 block of North Military Trail. Officers found the roommate inside, and detained him. The owner and the reporting officer responded to the scene, whereupon the owner that he was only concerned with getting his car back and would seek legal advice to have the roommate removed from his apartment. The roommate was released. The vehicle was recovered, and removed from police crime computer systems. The owner took possession of his vehicle and left the scene.
The LoJack Stolen Vehicle Police Recovery System was installed in this Subaru Impreza on October 22, 2002 and has been protecting it ever since.