LoJack® System Helps Huntington Beach Police Department Recover Stolen Mitsubishi Raider

The owner of a 2006 Mitsubishi Raider contacted the Costa Mesa Police Department to report their vehicle was stolen.  The owner had parked his Mitsubishi in his assigned apartment parking stall and left to stay with a friend.  The owner was contacted by another friend in regard to his Mitsubishi missing from the assigned parking space.  The owner returned home and contacted the police.

The Costa Mesa PD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Mitsubishi.

A short while later the Orange County Sheriff’s airship Duke picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Mitsubishi with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles and aircraft.  Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, airship Duke tracked the Mitsubishi to the area of Beach Blvd. and Garfield in the city of Huntington Beach. Airship Duke broadcast the information over an Orange County radio channel.  Patrol Officers from the Huntington Beach PD, equipped with LoJack® Police Tracking Computers, responded to the area and began tracking the stolen Mitsubishi. The HBPD patrol officers tracked the signal to the area of Brookhurst Street and Yorktown Avenue.  A HPPD officer saw the stolen Mitsubishi exit the parking lot of a business in the 19200 block of Brookhurst Street. The Mitsubishi drove past him in the opposite direction.  Another HPPD patrol officer drove up behind the stolen Mitsubishi and stopped it Mauna Lane.  The female driver was detained and subsequently arrested for receiving stolen property.  The suspect made a statement to the arresting officer that she paid another subject $100 for the Mitsubishi and she knew it was stolen.  She told the officer that she even asked the other subject if the vehicle had LoJack.  The other subject told her “it was clean” because it had been stolen two days prior.  When the officers searched the suspect and stolen Mitsubishi they found possible evidence of identity theft, other stolen property and drugs.

The LoJack® System was installed in the Mitsubishi Raider in December 2005.