Ontario Police Using LoJack Recover Stolen Honda Civic, Arrest 4 Suspects, in Shopping Center Lot
- November 18, 2012
- recovery stories
On October 15, 2012, the owner of a 2000 Honda Civic contacted the Riverside Sheriff’s Department Jurupa Station to report that their vehicle was stolen. Riverside Sheriff’s deputies verified the theft and entered the Honda’s information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle.
A short while later, officers from the Ontario Police Department traveling eastbound on the 60 Freeway at Grove Avenue, picked up the Honda’s silent LoJack homing signal on the Police Tracking Computer installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computer, the officers, with assistance of the Ontario PD Helicopter Air-30, began tracking the moving signal. The officers isolated the signal to a shopping center in the vicinity of Vineyard and Walnut, where they located the vehicle occupied by four suspects. The suspects pulled out of the parking lot, followed by the initial tracking unit. With the assistance of other responding ground units and air-unit coverage, the officers finally stopped the vehicle in the area of Corona known as Home Gardens. All four suspects were apprehended and arrested for Auto Theft and Possession of Stolen Property, with additional charges of Evading and Resisting Arrest on the driver.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Honda Civic on April 15, 2000 at Norm Reeves Superstore in Cerritos, California.