Owner Leaves Keys in Land Rover While Buying Coffee, Vehicle Stolen — Quickly Recovered by NYPD
- August 15, 2012
- recovery stories
On July 11, 2012, the owner of a 2009 Land Rover, Range Rover, entered a cafe to purchase a cup of coffee in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. The owner left the vehicle unattended for only a minute with the keys in the ignition. When she emerged from the café, the owner discovered that her vehicle had been stolen and immediately contacted the NYPD’s 34th precinct to report the theft.
NYPD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers (NYSPIN/NCIC), which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Land Rover.
A short while later, detectives from the Bronx DA’s Auto Squad picked up the silent LoJack homing signals from the stolen Range Rover on the Police Tracking Computers installed in their patrol vehicles. Following the directional and audible cues from the LoJack computers, the detectives tracked the vehicle to a commercial parking garage on East Tremont Avenue and White Plains Road in the confines of the Bronx’s 45th precinct. The undamaged vehicle was recovered in the sub-basement of the parking garage, along with the stolen keys. The vehicle was impounded for safekeeping and later returned to a delighted owner who had just purchased the vehicle a month ago.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Land Rover, Range Rover in July of 2009 at the Land Rover dealership in Las Vegas.