header

LoJack® System Helps Winston Salem Police Department Recover Stolen Dodge Dakota

  • March 17, 2016
  • recovery stories
print

The owners of a 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup contacted the Winston Salem Police Department to report that their vehicle was stolen during the night from their residence’s parking lot.  The victim stated to police the pickup was not improperly parked, did not have any outstanding loan and no one had a key to the pickup.  No witness, security video surveillance nor suspect(s) were known at the time of the theft reporting.

The Winston Salem 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 Dodge Dakota.

A short while later officers from the Winston Salem PD picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Dodge 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 Dodge to a fenced vehicle storage area in the 4000 block of Glenn Ave (NE).  Inside the fenced area was the Dodge and a second vehicle, 1998 Oldsmobile 88, both which had been reported stolen from the same residential complex.

The ownership of the storage area was called to the site to determine why the two vehicles were found in their possession.  An investigation continues to determine if the vehicles were towed due to an alleged parking violation or if the vehicles were in fact stolen and recovered before being given a new identity or scrapped for parts.  North Carolina state law allows vehicles ten years old and older to be sold without a vehicle title being delivered to the purchaser.  The seller must provide a bill of sale with the vehicle and seller identification. This is often used as a “cover up” of stolen older vehicles.  The alleged seller, maybe the thief, uses someone’s identity rather than the thief’s.

The LoJack® System was installed in the Dodge Dakota in October 2004 at Sansone Plaza Ford Nissan in Neptune, New Jersey.


Printed from the LoJack Recovery Story Library.

LoJack® unit activation is contingent upon the vehicle being located within LoJack’s coverage area that spans counties across 29 states throughout the U.S. and District of Columbia. You may find LoJack’s coverage areas at www.lojack.com/coverage or by calling 1-800-4-LoJack.

© 2019 CalAmp. LoJack and the LoJack logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of CalAmp and its subsidiaries in the United States and certain other countries.