LoJack® System Helps Horry County Police & Briarcliff Police Department Recover Stolen Suzuki GSX1300R Hyabusa
- June 8, 2016
- recovery stories
The owner of a 2008 Suzuki GSX1300R Hyabusa contacted the Cary Police Department to report his motorcycle was stolen from their apartment complex off Grande Valley Circle during the night. The owner had secured the motorcycle at his apartment around12:30AM, only to come outside at approximately 5:45AM to discover the motorcycle missing. No witness, video, nor suspect information was known at the time of theft.
The Cary 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 Suzuki motorcycle.
More than a month had past and 175 miles from the theft location of the Suzuki motorcycle, a South Carolina Department of Natural Resource (SCDNR) pilot was flying his fixed wing aircraft in the Georgetown, SC, area picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Suzuki motorcycle 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 pilot tracked the Suzuki to an area off US 521 and US17 Alternate near an elementary school. Due to the buildings and tree cover, the motorcycle could not be seen by the pilot but he provided the location and the stolen motorcycle information to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Department. The Georgetown SD dispatched a patrol unit to the area but without a LoJack tracker and uncooperative citizen contacts, the motorcycle was not located. The following day was the beginning of motorcycle week in Myrtle Beach. Thousands of motorcycles/owners from all over the east coast converge on Myrtle Beach for their motorcycle interest, sun, and fun. Law enforcement from many city, county, state and federal agencies also converge to assist in maintaining a wholesome vacation environment. While working traffic along Kingsway Highway, a joint traffic post by the Horry County Police Department and the Briarcliff Police Department picked up the stolen Suzuki motorcycle signal. The track signal took officers to a fast food restaurant parking lot in the 9600 block of N. Kingsway Highway. The Suzuki was found to have had a fraudulent VIN stamped on the bike but the engine number assigned to the motorcycle from the factory was that of the stolen Suzuki. The alleged owner, a person from the Georgetown, SC, street area where the pilot had picked the signal up the day prior, showed he had received a South Carolina title the same day for the stolen/fraudulent VIN stamped motorcycle. The color of the motorcycle was the same orange color has the reported stolen motorcycle. The Suzuki motorcycle was seized; held for further identification and investigation concerning the alleged seller and fraudulent title application.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Suzuki GSX1300R Hyabusa in March 2011 at Philadelphia Cycle Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.