LoJack® System Helps Orange County Sheriff’s Office Recover Stolen Toyota Corolla
- January 28, 2015
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2013 Toyota Corolla contacted the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to report that their vehicle was stolen by the ex-boyfriend of the owner. He had forced his way into her residence looking for the owner, who was not at home at the time. After threatening the owner’s parents at gunpoint he took the keys to the Toyota and then removed it from the garage. He then proceeded to her place of business looking for her.
The Osceola County SO 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.
A short while later, deputies from the Orange County SO K-9 unit 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. They were joined by members of the Auto Theft Unit and a helicopter from the Aviation Unit. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the deputies tracked the Toyota to a residential subdivision in the Avalon Park area of the county.
The marked ground units backed off the location and while the Auto Theft Unit was setting up surveillance they observed two males exit a residence and enter the stolen Toyota. The ex-boyfriend was one of the two males entering the Toyota. He was immediately apprehended. The handgun was inside the Toyota.
He was charged with the theft of the Toyota along with numerous other charges, including possession of a firearm, burglary, unlawful imprisonment and Violation of an Order of Protection.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Toyota Corolla in July 2014at Central Florida Toyota in Orlando, Florida.