LoJack Helps Miami Gardens Police Recover Terex Light Tower Stolen from Fort Lauderdale Job Site
- March 31, 2013
- recovery stories
According to sources, a 2012 Green Terex light tower was last seen at its Fort Lauderdale job site on December 14, 2012. On Thursday, December 20, 2012 the renter of the equipment discovered it missing and contacted the Fort Lauderdale Police Department to report it stolen. 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 light tower.
Later in the day, a Miami Gardens Police Department (MGPD) officer picked up the silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen light tower 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 backyard of a house in the 15900 block of N.W. 40th Court in Miami Gardens.
Surveillance was established on the house by the MGPD auto theft unit. Shortly thereafter, a pickup truck drove up to the house. The driver was stopped and asked about the light tower. The driver was the owner of the house and gave permission to the detective to search the backyard. The detectives located the light tower, but rather than being its original green color, it was now brown. The driver explained that he had purchased the light tower about two weeks prior to the reporting of the equipment being stolen. The light tower was recovered, towed to the police impound yard for safekeeping, and removed from federal and state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the 2012 Terex light tower on June 13, 2012 and has been protecting it ever since.