LoJack® System Helps Chicago Police Department Recover Stolen Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS
- April 17, 2015
- recovery stories
The owners of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS contacted the Chicago Police Department to report that their vehicle was stolen. The owner of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo had parked his vehicle and went into a convenience store on the 4400 block of S Ashland Ave in Chicago’s New City neighborhood. The driver had left his Chevrolet running with his wife asleep in the back seat of the vehicle; she sleeps on the long ride to work. When he saw his Monte Carlo leave the lot he called his wife on her cell phone. The offender upon becoming aware of the woman sleeping in the rear seat stated he had a gun and ordered her out of the Chevrolet. The victim’s wife was left a few blocks away where responding Chicago PD located and re-united her with her husband.
The Chicago 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 Chevrolet. A few hours later officers from the Chicago PD Canine unit picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Chevrolet 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 Chevrolet to a factory parking lot on the 1300 block of S Wolf Rd in Des Plaines, Illinois. The Des Plaines Police Department was notified and surveillance of the Chevrolet was conducted. An offender was arrested upon returning to the Chevrolet and was later heard making a spontaneous admission, “I just wanted to get to work on time.” The offender was charged with multiple felonies including possession of a stolen motor vehicle and parole violation.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Chevrolet Monte Carlo LS in February 1997 at Tony Rizza Chevrolet in Chicago, Illinois.