Mercedes Benz E350 Stolen from Ohio Dealership, Recovered by Garfield Heights Police Using LoJack
- January 29, 2013
- recovery stories
On January 3, 2013, a representative of Mercedes Benz of North Olmsted contacted the North Olmsted Police Department to report that a 2013 Mercedes Benz E350 was taken by fraud from the dealership. A customer had dropped off a high-mileage car for service and was given a service loaner, but did not respond to multiple contacts from the dealership once the repairs had been made to his vehicle.
North Olmsted Police verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Mercedes.
Less than 10 minutes later, several law enforcement agencies in northeast Ohio picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen Mercedes on their Police Tracking Computers installed in their cruisers. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, an officer from the Garfield Heights Police Department located the stolen Mercedes parked in a driveway in Maple Heights. Information was obtained from the resident and the vehicle was impounded.
Because of the fast recovery, there was no visible damage to the Mercedes, and the suspect did not have enough time to strip it. Detectives with North Olmsted Police are further investigating the information obtained during the recovery for possible charges.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was preinstalled in the Mercedes by Mercedes Benz of North Olmsted in November 2012. Collection Auto Group, the parent company of this dealership, pre-installs LoJack on its service loaner fleet to protect themselves against such fraudulent use.