LoJack Aids Houston Police in Recovery of Two Case Backhoes Missing for 10 Days
- December 5, 2012
- recovery stories
On November 16, United Rentals contacted the Baytown Police Department to report that two 2012 Case 580N backhoes had been stolen from a truck stop parking lot on I-10 in East Baytown, where the driver had parked the truck tractor and trailer for the evening.
Baytown Police verified the theft and entered the equipment’s information provided to them into the state and federal crime computers. However, the VINs provided to the police were incorrect and was discovered ten (10) days later, on November 26. The local LoJack law enforcement agent supplied the Baytown Police Department with the actual information; the information was corrected in the computer systems, and the LoJack transponders concealed in the two backhoes were activated.
A short while later, officers from the Houston Police Department picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from one of the stolen backhoes on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the backhoe to a landscaping / lawn business located South of FM 2920 in North Harris County. The backhoe was stored pending notification of the Rental agency.
Early the next morning, a Texas State Trooper picked up the LoJack signal from the second stolen Case backhoe. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the trooper tracked the backhoe to a vacant field in far East Harris County near the intersection of I-10 and SH 99, where it appeared to have been abandoned. The rental agency was contacted and the backhoe released into their custody. Baytown Police and the Houston Police Department task force officers are continuing the investigation and questioning of several suspects.
The total value of this recovery is approximately $160,000.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Two Case 580N Backhoes at BIC-United Rentals-Burlington in Burlington, IA in January of 2012.