LoJack Helps Broward County Deputies Recover Stolen Toyota Camry, Owner’s Son Arrested
- March 31, 2013
- recovery stories
On Wednesday night, December 12, 2012, the owner of a 2011 Toyota Camry 4-door sedan gave a set of keys to his vehicles to his son to close the windows of one of his cars that was in his driveway. Later that evening, the owner’s daughter questioned her father as to where the Toyota Camry was. The owner checked his house and discovered his son, car and car keys missing. He attempted unsuccessfully to contact his son via cell phone. At that point, the owner concluded that his son had stolen his car and contacted the Coconut Creek Police Department to report the theft.
The responding officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and theft affidavit and had the vehicle=s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police procedure automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Toyota Camry.
Immediately upon activation, a Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy picked up the silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen sedan on their on-board LoJack Police Tracking computer (PTC). Following the directional and audible cues on their PTC’s screen, the officer, along with backup, located the vehicle in the 1500 block of Hammondville Road in Pompano Beach. There, the deputy performed a “felony stop” on the vehicle. Upon speaking with the driver, he advised that he had been given the car by the owner’s son. The driver then led the officers to the owner’s son, who was ultimately arrested for Grand Theft Auto. The vehicle was recovered, released to the owner at the scene, and removed from federal and state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota Camry on January 24, 2011 at Al Hendrickson Toyota in Coconut Creek, Florida and has been protecting it ever since.