LoJack Aids California Highway Patrol in Recovering Case Forklift Stolen from Stanislaus Orchard
- November 18, 2012
- recovery stories
On November 6, 2012, a farmer returned to his orchard and discovered suspects had stolen a Case forklift that he had rented from Hertz Equipment Rentals to complete his fall harvest. The farmer then contacted the Stanislaus Sheriffs Department, Patterson sub-station, to report the theft. The forklift information was entered into the California Stolen Vehicle System as well as the national system, NCIC. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the forklift. Neither the owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Transponder because of LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
A short while later, and approximately 75 miles away, an officer with the California Highway Patrol was on patrol and began to pick up the forklift’s silent LoJack homing signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in his patrol vehicle. Following the directional and signal strength cues on the LoJack computer, the officer, along with backup, tracked and located the forklift behind an old ranch house in the 5900 block of Highway 140. They did not observe any suspects, and task force officers conducted an investigation to identify the owner of the property.
The forklift, valued at approximately $60,000, was towed and stored for safekeeping, to be released back to Hertz.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Case Forklift as a factory install for Hertz Equipment.