LoJack® System Helps Guilford County Sheriff Office Recover Stolen Takeuchi TL150r Skid Steer
- October 17, 2014
- recovery stories
The owners of a 2006 Takeuchi TL150r skid steer contacted the Mebane Police Department to report that their vehicle was stolen from a utility job site on Ben Wilson Road. The skid steer had been staged off the road at the end of the previous work day and the workers returned to the site to continue their work but discovered it had been loaded onto a vehicle and taken away without permission. No suspect or witness information was known at the time of reporting.
Mebane Police Department verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Takeuchi.
Sometime later a deputy from the Guilford County Sheriff Office picked up the silent LoJack® homing signals from the stolen Takeuchi with the LoJack® Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles and aircraft. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the deputy tracked the vehicle to a new construction site of a national retail store. The skid steer was taken into custody and stored until the owner could be notified of the recovery and travel approximately (70) miles to take possession.
Guilford County Sheriff Office deputies returned to the recovery site later in the day to make contact with the person(s) and/or company that had use of the skid steer on the construction site. The company owner revealed he had purchased the skid steer from a known person out of Danville, VA and that person had delivered the equipment originally to Reidsville, NC. An investigation continues and arrests are pending.
The owner/victim contractor in this theft was also a victim of theft of the same skid steer in October 2013. The skid steer was tracked to recovery through the partnership of Raleigh Police Department and LoJack the next day.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Takeuchi Mod. TL150r in November 2009.