Ford Mustang Stolen from SC Dealership Recovered in NC by Police Using LoJack, One Arrested
- November 9, 2012
- recovery stories
On September 10, 2012, the management of a car dealership contacted the Aiken County Sheriff Office to report that a 2007 Ford Mustang had been stolen from the dealership’s used car lot during the previous weekend. During the reporting of the stolen Ford Mustang, the dealership sales staff recalled two men looking at the Mustang and acting suspiciously on the prior Friday. There was no evidence of glass breakage on the dealer lot, leading officers to believe a key had been obtained during the suspicious activity.
Aiken County deputies verified the theft and entered the Mustang’s information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle.
Within minutes, officers of the Gaston County Police Department and Gastonia Police Department in North Carolina (approximately one hundred and twenty miles away) picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen Ford Mustang on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the vehicle to a shopping center parking lot in the City of Gastonia. The Mustang was found unoccupied and a short surveillance was conducted; however no one returned to the Mustang. The VIN under the windshield at the top of the dash had been covered by sunflower seeds and a North Carolina registration plate displayed on the Mustang. The name listed to the registration plate was a known person living approximately a mile from the shopping center, and this person had criminal history in the area. Checking the person by name in the National Crime Information Center revealed that he was wanted in Georgia for Grand Larceny of an Automobile. While the recovered Mustang was being processed for latent evidence, officers went to the suspect’s residence and arrested him on the Georgia warrants. He refused to talk about the 2007 Ford Mustang recovered with his registration plate belonging to a 2005 Ford Mustang. The Aiken County Sheriff’s Office was given information about the suspect; they are continuing their investigation.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Ford Mustang in November of 2006 at Waldorf Ford/Dodge in Waldorf, Maryland.