Mercedes Benz Stolen by Acquaintance, CHP Use Vehicle’s Brand-New LoJack System to Recover Vehicle
- March 27, 2013
- recovery stories
On February 10, 2013, the owner of a 2006 Mercedes Benz CLS500 went to a party, and when leaving, a woman asked for a ride home. The owner was happy to oblige, and on the way home, he stopped at a friend’s house to drop off some items, leaving the woman inside the vehicle. When he returned to the vehicle minutes later, he discovered that the woman had driven away with the car. He quickly reported the theft to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP-Stockton Area officers verified the theft and had the vehicle information entered into the CA state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle. Neither the owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the transponder, because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Hours later, officers with the Stockton Police Department and the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department began to receive the silent signal from the stolen Mercedes. Using the directional and signal strength cues on the LoJack Police Tracking Computers in their cars, the officers tracked and located the Mercedes, parked and abandoned on a residential street near Louise and I-5.
The vehicle was intact, and the victim was contacted and came to the location to drive his car home. The victim just purchased the car a month ago, and was very pleased that he had had a LoJack system installed by the dealership. The Mercedes was valued at approximately $34,000.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Mercedes Benz CLS500 just months earlier – in January of 2013 at Stevens Creek Audi.