LoJack Recovery of Stolen Kawasaki Motorcycle Leads to Chop Shop Bust, 2nd Recovery, in Long Island
- July 3, 2012
- recovery stories
On June 14 2012, the owner of a2012 Kawasaki ZX600 parked and locked his bike on the street near his office in Midtown Manhattan. When he returned some time later, he found it missing and immediately called the New York Police Department’s 13th Precinct to report the theft. After NYPD officers verified the theft, they had the motorcycle’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Kawasaki.
Sometime later and some fifty miles away, members of the Nassau County Police Department and other nearby patrol units picked up the Kawasaki’s silent LoJack homing signal on the LoJack Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible signals on the LoJack computers, the officers tracked the motorcycle to the garage of a private house in the village of Freeport, Long Island. Nassau County Auto Squad was summoned to the scene. The detectives interviewed the owner of the house and after some negotiations, acquired permission to search the garage. Inside, they discovered the stolen Kawasaki, as well as a 2011 Suzuki motorcycle partially disassembled and packed in crates. Investigation determined that these bikes were destined for the Caribbean Islands. Further investigation led to the arrest of the mechanic/handyman who was friends with owner of the garage who brought the bikes into the garage. The investigation also revealed that on the day of the theft, two men pulled up in a green van with out-of-state plates, picked up the bike, placed it in the van and drove away. The van had out-of-state plates. This was all captured on video surveillance by the building security cameras. The investigation is still continuing, with the possibility of more arrests in the future.
The motorcycle was recovered in a disassembled state; however, all the parts were there, and just had to be reassembled.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Kawasaki ZX600 at Motorcycle Mall in Belleville, New Jersey on June 6 2012.