LoJack® System Helps San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Recover Stolen Mini Cooper
- August 6, 2015
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2006 Mini Cooper contacted the San Diego Police Department to report that his vehicle was stolen in the city of San Diego.
The San Diego 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 Mini.
A short while later, deputies from San Diego County Sheriff’s Department picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Mini Cooper 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 Mini to a driveway at the 300 block of Mimosa Ave in Vista. The Mini was found abandoned but the owner of the property pointed to the sheriff’s where the suspect was hiding in another vehicle parked in the street. The suspect was directed to exit but instead fled on foot and after a short pursuit was apprehended. The suspect had a valid federal felony warrant for his arrest, had a prior felony conviction and was out on bail for a prior arrest.
A search of the vehicle uncovered an AK-47 style rifle with a folding stock, 13 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, a pistol grip pump action shotgun with four rounds of shotgun ammunition, a Samsung tablet with a picture of the suspect on it, a switchblade knife, bolt cutters, a slide hammer among burglary items.
The suspect was arrested for vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest and causing minor injury, providing false identification to an officer, convicted person in possession of firearms and ammunition, possession of burglary tools, committing a felony while on bail, possession of a switchblade and possession of a short barrel shotgun.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Mini Cooper on December 2006 by Irvine BMW in California.