LoJack Leads New Orleans Police to Recovery of Stolen Ford F350, Discovery of Mobile Chop Shop
- March 28, 2013
- recovery stories
On January 30, 2013, the owner of a 2006 Ford F-350 4×4 contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to report that his truck was stolen from in front the business over night in Metairie. He reported that he parked and secured the truck outside the business and upon his return in the morning, discovered that it had been stolen.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the F-350.
Several hours later, officers from the New Orleans Police Department and the Louisiana State Police picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen Ford F-350 on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the signal to the rear of a closed business in New Orleans East. Upon entering the yard, officers located the stolen Ford F-350 with a suspect setting up equipment from a service type truck to strip the truck. The suspect was operating a mobile chop shop from a service truck with every type of tool used to strip a vehicle. The suspect was arrested and charged with possession of the stolen truck
The Ford F-350, valued at approximately $16,000, was impounded for safekeeping until it could be released to the owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the 2006 Ford F-350 in May of 2007 at Ford-Lincoln-Mercury-Nissan of Slidell at the owner’s request.