LoJack® System Helps Law Enforcement Recover a Stolen 2015 Kenworth T-800 dump truck and a 2016 Kenworth T-800 Dump Truck
- June 7, 2016
- recovery stories
The owner of a fleet of dump trucks arrived at their storage facility early on a Saturday morning, discovered the entrance gate had been compromised and that 3 of their dump trucks had been stolen. One was a 2015 Kenworth T-800 dump truck, a 2016 Kenworth T-800 dump truck and a 2014 Peterbilt dump truck. The two Kenworth’s were equipped with LoJack® Stolen Vehicle Recovery Systems; the Peterbilt was not. The owner contacted the Plant City Police Department to report their vehicles stolen. The responding officer prepared a stolen vehicle report, theft affidavit and had the vehicles’ information entered into the state and federal crime information computers.
Later that morning, while on routine patrol, an Osceola County Sheriff’s Office pilot picked up the silent LoJack signals from both Kenworth dump trucks on their helicopter’s on-board LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC). The deputy began tracking the stolen vehicles by following the directional and audible cues on the PTC screen; at the same time advising the ground units whose patrol cars were equipped with PTC’s where the track was leading them. The deputies, along with their backup from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, located the dump trucks in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant near I-4 and US 27 in Davenport. The stolen Peterbilt was nowhere to be found. The Kenworth dump trucks were recovered and released to the owner, who responded to the scene, and removed from state and federal crime information computer systems.
Both LoJack® Systems were installed at Kenworth of Central Florida in Tampa. The one in the 2015 Kenworth T-800 dump truck was installed in December 2014 and the one in the 2016 Kenworth T-800 dump truck was installed in August 2015. It should be noted that the only trucks that were recovered were the ones that were equipped with the LoJack® System. After two of the three trucks were recovered, the owner mentioned that the first business day after the Memorial Day holiday they were going to contact LoJack to have them install LoJack® Systems on all of their trucks.