Broward County Deputies Use LoJack to Recover Melroe Loader Stolen from Pompano Beach Business
- December 29, 2012
- recovery stories
On Friday morning, November 2, 2012, the owners of a Melroe 763-C skid steer loader contacted the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report that their business had been burglarized and the loader, trailer and other construction equipment had been stolen.
Broward County deputies verified the theft and had the equipment’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the skid steer loader.
Later that day, an officer with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department picked up the silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen loader on the Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in his patrol vehicle. Following the directional and audible cues on the PTC’s screen, the officer, along with backup, tracked the loader to a warehouse in the 2200 block of N.W. 19th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Detectives from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office (BSO) were notified of the situation and responded to the scene. The BSO detectives gathered all of the documentation necessary for a search warrant, obtained a judge’s signature, and the served the warrant on the warehouse facility. Inside the location the detectives located the stolen skid steer loader. The equipment 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 Melroe 763-C skid steer loader on August 10, 1999 and has been protecting it ever since.