LoJack® System Helps Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Recover Stolen Toyota Corolla
- January 27, 2016
- recovery stories
The owners of a 2005 Toyota Corolla contacted the Long Beach Police Department to report their vehicle was stolen.
The Long Beach 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.
Only 6 minutes later the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Airship 22 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, Airship 22 tracked the Toyota to the parking lot of a liquor store in the city of Lakewood. Airship 22 notified Lakewood patrol deputies about the location of the stolen Toyota. While flying overhead Airship 22 saw a male exit the passenger door of the Toyota and skateboard away eastbound. A patrol deputy detained the male subject. Airship 22 saw a female exit the driver door of the Toyota and enter the liquor store. Patrol deputies found the female standing in the doorway of the liquor store.
The male passenger was questioned but denied knowing the Toyota was stolen. The male passenger was arrested for being intoxicated in public. The female driver initially told deputies she was picked up by the male passenger in the Toyota but drove the vehicle after he picked her up. The female later admitted that she knew the Toyota was stolen and she got it from a friend. The female driver was arrested for the theft of the Toyota. The owner of the Toyota was contacted by the deputies and told them he did not know the two suspects nor gave them permission to take his vehicle.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Toyota Corolla in August 2004 at Toyota of Riverside in California.