Auto Thief Admits to Stealing Honda Accord from Vegas Strip to Visit Girlfriend in CA, Two Arrested
- June 8, 2012
- recovery stories
On April 29, 2012, the owners of a 1996 Honda Accord reported the vehicle stolen to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Las Vegas Police completed a stolen vehicle report and had the Accord’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Accord, prompting the transponder to begin emitting a silent homing signal. Neither the owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Vehicle Recovery Network, because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Just over an hour later, a deputy from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department began to pick up the silent Accord’s silent LoJack signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer installed in his patrol vehicle. At the time, the deputy was traveling southbound on a frontage road next to the I-15 Freeway at Bear Valley Road in the City of Victorville, California. By following the directional and signal strength cues on the tracking computer, the deputy quickly determined that the Accord was traveling southbound on the freeway. After requesting backup, the deputy began to track the vehicle – with the signal growing stronger – as he traveled southbound on the freeway as well. Soon, the deputy observed the stolen vehicle, occupied by two male suspects.
When the additional back-up units arrived, the officers initiated a felony vehicle stop at the Joshua Street off-ramp. Both suspects were taken into custody without incident. The driver admitted to taking the vehicle from an unknown location on the Las Vegas Strip to come to California to see his girlfriend. He was arrested for Auto Theft and Possession of Stolen Property. The passenger was also arrested for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and the undamaged Accord was towed and stored.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Honda at Sierra Leasing in Glendale, California on May 9, 1997.