LoJack® System Helps Golden Police Department Recover Stolen Jeep Wrangler
- March 9, 2017
- recovery stories
The owners of a white Jeep Wrangler with an Oregon registration discovered that their vehicle had been stolen from a residence in Longmont. The owners notified the Longmont Police Department; a police officer responded and verified the theft. The stolen vehicle information was then entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine action on the part of law enforcement automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Jeep.
A short time later a Boulder Police Department officer picked up the LoJack signal “hit” from the stolen Jeep with the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in his patrol car, but shortly thereafter lost contact with it.
Still later an officer with the Golden Police Department picked up the silent LoJack signal with the PTC in his patrol car. Using the directional and signal strength cues displayed on the PTC he was able to track and locate the Jeep at a towing yard in Golden.
The Jeep had been towed there after a crash investigation near the town of Morrison. However, the story doesn’t end there. The color of the Jeep was no longer white; rather, it had been freshly spray-painted black and green.
Also, the Oregon license plates had been removed and another Colorado license plate was displayed. As a part of the recovery investigation by Golden PD it was determined that the Colorado license plate displayed on the stolen and repainted Jeep had been taken from another Jeep in Loveland. The owner of that Jeep Wrangler wasn’t aware of the theft until contacted by police.
This case remains under investigation.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Jeep in March 2008 at Baydo Chevrolet in McKenna, Washington, at the request of a previous owner of this Wrangler.
Author’s note: Spray paint and switched license plates don’t fool LoJack!