Caterpillar Backhoe/Loader Stolen from Construction Site, Recovered by Hialeah Officers Using LoJack
- November 4, 2012
- recovery stories
On Monday morning, September 10, 2012, the manager of a construction site on University Drive in Miramar, Florida discovered their 2008 Caterpillar 420E combination front-end loader/backhoe missing, and contacted the Miramar Police Department to report it stolen. The last time anyone saw the construction equipment was on Saturday afternoon, September 8, 2012.
Miramar officers verified the theft and had the Caterpillar’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the backhoe.
A short while later, a Hialeah Police Department K-9 officer, picked up the silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen Caterpillar backhoe on the LoJack Police Tracking computer (PTC) installed in his patrol vehicle. At the same time, the Miami-Dade Police Department’s aviation unit’s helicopter picked up the signal and began tracking it as well. The helicopter tracked the signal to a vehicle storage compound in the 1500 block of West 35th Place. Hialeah officers responded and located the stolen construction equipment. The vehicle was recovered, towed to the police impound yard for safekeeping, and removed from the federal and state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Caterpillar 420E combination front-end loader/backhoe on April 6, 2011, and has been protecting it ever since.