Car Thief Arrested With Shaved Keys After Claiming to Purchase Stolen Honda Accord for $500
- June 12, 2012
- recovery stories
On April 22, 2012, a Hawthorne Police Department officer began picking a silent LoJack homing signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in his patrol vehicle. When he queried the Reply Code appearing on the computer display against the nationwide law enforcement crime database, he was informed that he was tracking a 1995 Honda Accord reported stolen to Hawthorne Police only eight minutes earlier.
Following the directional and signal strength cues on the tracking computer, the officer tracked the Honda to the area of 120th Street and Inglewood Ave, where he observed the vehicle being driven by one male suspect with a female passenger. When the requested back-up units arrived, police conducted a high-risk traffic stop, taking both suspects into custody.
The officer’s subsequent investigation revealed that the suspect was using a shaved key to operate the vehicle and also was in possession of a shaved key for Ford vehicles. The suspect claimed that he had purchased the vehicle from someone at a convenience store for $500. The suspect was arrested for Grand Theft Auto and the female passenger was questioned and released. Hawthorne Detectives are conducting the follow-up investigation.