LoJack® System Helps Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Recover Stolen Nissan Sentra
- February 2, 2016
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2005 Nissan Sentra contacted the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to report her vehicle was stolen. The victim parked her Nissan in front of a residence in Carson, California, with her purse and keys on the rear passenger floorboard. When she returned 20 minutes later her Nissan was missing.
The LASD Carson verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Nissan.
A short while later an LASD airship picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Nissan 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 LASD airship tracked the Nissan to the intersection of Abbot Road and Atlantic Avenue in the city of Carson. The airship called in patrol deputies from the LASD Carson station to assist. Patrol deputies found the Nissan parked in front of a hair salon with a female seated in the driver seat. The officers detained the driver and questioned her. The driver told the deputies that a friend (she provided the friend’s name to the deputies) lent her the Nissan a few hours prior. She had driven her mother to the hair salon and was to drive her mother to work after the salon. A few moments later the driver’s mother exited the salon.
The deputies contacted the owner and had her respond to the location. The owner did not know the suspect driving her Nissan, nor did she know the friend’s name provided by the suspect. The suspect was arrested but the suspect’s mother with her new hairdo was released. The victim took possession of her Nissan.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Nissan Sentra in December 2004 at AutoNation South Bay in Hawthorne, California.