Stolen Toyota RAV-4 Recovered by NYPD Officers Using LoJack, Suspect Arrested
- January 31, 2013
- recovery stories
On January 7, 2013, the owner of a Toyota RAV-4, who resides in Gaithersburg, MD and was visiting family in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, discovered his vehicle was stolen while parked on the 4000 block of the Henry Hudson Parkway. The owner immediately reported the theft to the NYPD’s 50th precinct.
NYPD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers (NYSPIN/NCIC), which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Toyota.
A short while later, officers from NYPD’s Bronx Auto Larceny Unit picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen Toyota on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the vehicle to the 3000 block of Jerome Avenue, in the confines of the Bronx’s 52nd precinct. There, they observed one occupant operating the stolen vehicle.
The officers stopped the vehicle, and after a brief investigation, placed the suspect under arrest for the stolen vehicle, possession of burglar’s tools and a suspended New York State driver’s license. The vehicle was impounded as arrest evidence and was eventually returned to an elated owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota RAV-4 on November 6, 2004 at the Koons Toyota-Mazda-Westminster dealership in Westminster, Maryland.