Miami-Dade Officers Locate Stolen Kawasaki Motorcycle, Bust Chop Shop, Arrest One
- June 24, 2012
- recovery stories
On Tuesday morning, May 22, 2012, the owner of a 2007 Kawasaki EX-250 Ninja motorcycle contacted the Miami Police Department to report their motorcycle stolen. After verifying the theft, Miami officers had the motorcycle’s information entered into the federal and state crime computers, which activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Kawasaki.
Minutes later, a Miami-Dade Police Department auto theft detective received the Kawasaki’s silent LoJack signal on his patrol car’s LoJack Police Tracking Computer. The detective, along with backup, quickly located the motorcycle between a dumpster and a vehicle in front of a repair shop in the 2300 block of N.W. 7th Court. The officers set up surveillance on the motorcycle; after a short period of time, an individual pulled up in front of the repair shop and went inside the building. When the individual returned, he began moving the motorcycle toward the entrance of the building. At that point, the detective gave the order to converge upon the subject and business.
After inspecting the business, the detectives discovered two engines from two motorcycles reported stolen. The suspect was then arrested for “Operating a Chop Shop”, Grand Theft Auto, and additional violations of county and city ordinances. The suspect was transported to the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Northside District for further investigation, and later transported to the Dade County Jail.
The motorcycle was recovered with the ignition broken, towed to the police impound yard for safekeeping, and removed from the police crime computer systems. The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Kawasaki EX-250 Ninja motorcycle in November 2006, and has been protecting it ever since.