LoJack® System Helps Desoto Police Department Recover a Stolen Ford Focus
- March 30, 2016
- recovery stories
The owner of a Ford Focus contacted the Dallas Police Department to report that his vehicle was stolen. The owner’s Ford broke down on the freeway. The owner left it to arrange to have it towed. When he returned to the Ford, he found it missing.
The Dallas 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 Ford.
Later, officers from the Desoto Police Department picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Ford with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the officers tracked the stolen Ford to a business that buys salvage vehicles and found it parked inside the business’s fenced in yard. The business was still open for business. Auto theft task force detectives responded to this location and inspected all the other vehicles parked at the salvage yard. Detectives identified three other stolen vehicles inside the salvage yard, a 2002 Mercury Sable, a 2003 Toyota Camry and a 2002 Dodge pickup. These three stolen vehicles were also stolen off the freeway after they had broken down. The owner of the salvage yard had receipts, identifying the suspect who towed these vehicles to his salvage yard. An arrest warrant is pending.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Ford Focus in December 2001 at Texas Ford of Arlington in Texas.