LoJack® System Helps U.S Customs / Baltimore Police Department Recover Stolen Toyota Venza
- January 30, 2015
- recovery stories
The owner of a Used Car lot reported a 2009 Toyota Venza (SUV) stolen to the Athens /Clark County Police Department.
The Athens / Clark County 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 Toyota.
A short while later the Baltimore County Police Department in Maryland picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Toyota 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 officers tracked the Toyota to a coastal shipping yard in Maryland where it was to be shipped out to another country.
The U.S. Customs also assisting in locating the stolen Toyota had narrowed the LoJack signal to one ship that was docked at the port for loading of several hundred vehicles that were to be outbound to other countries. The officers used a LoJack portable tracking unit to help track the Toyota to an eleven deck parking area on the ship where the stolen Toyota was located on the top deck. After tracking the stolen Toyota (using the Portable LoJack unit) the officers located the vehicle identification number and found that it had been changed to help conceal the true identity.
The officers found out by U.S. Customs paperwork that the stolen Toyota had went from Georgia where it was stolen and (the VIN changed) to a shipping port in Jacksonville, Florida, and was loaded on the ship there and went up the coast to Maryland before moving out to sea. The U.S. Customs put a hold on the stolen Toyota for further investigation, possible arrest and also to see if the shipper of the stolen Toyota had shipped anymore vehicles out of the country.
The LoJack® System was installed in the 2009 Toyota Venza in Sept 2009 at Bayside Toyota in New York.