LoJack Leads Georgia State Police to Recovery of Stolen Ford Pickup, Chop Shop — 1 Arrested
- February 18, 2013
- recovery stories
On January 31, 2013, the owner of a 2006 Ford F250 pickup truck contacted the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department to report that his truck was stolen from his home. Douglas County deputies verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the truck.
A short while later, officers from the Georgia State Patrol began receiving a silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen truck 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 a house in rural Newton County, where the stolen truck was located, along with several vehicle parts from other vehicles.
After a check of the property, a detective was called to the scene to help identify the parts and to secure a search warrant for other building that belonged to the owner of the property. The detective determined that the location was a chop shop used to dismantle stolen vehicles brought to the location, whereby the stripped parts were used for resale to the public.
The Sheriff’s Department arrested the owner for Operating a Chop Shop and the theft of the stolen truck which led them to the property. The detective stated that estimated cost of property recovered was over $200,000.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Ford Truck in 2006 at Mall of Ga Ford. The current owner of the truck was not aware that a LoJack unit had been installed in the truck by the original owner when it was new in 2006.