GMC Yukon Stolen from Fort Lauderdale Job Site, Recovered by Hollywood Police Using LoJack, 1 Arrest
- December 10, 2012
- recovery stories
On Thursday morning, October 11, 2012, the owner of a 2007 GMC Yukon SUV drove the SUV to a job site on 11th Street in Fort Lauderdale. At the job site, he exited his truck and met with his associate, leaving the keys to his truck in the ignition and with the engine running. When he returned for the truck, he discovered it missing and contacted the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to report the vehicle stolen.
The responding officer prepared a stolen vehicle report and theft affidavit and had the Yukon’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police procedure automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle.
A short while later, an officer with the Hallandale Police Department picked up the silent LoJack homing signal from the stolen sport utility vehicle on their on-board LoJack Police Tracking computer (PTC). Unfortunately, at the time, the officer lost the signal as the vehicle was rapidly moving away from the officer. A “BOLO” was issued, and a Hollywood Police Department officer picked up the signal. Following the directional and audible cues on his PTC’s screen, the officer, along with backup, located the vehicle in a mall parking lot in the 3100 block of Hollywood Boulevard, across the street from Hollywood P.D. headquarters.
Officers established surveillance on the vehicle; shortly thereafter, a suspect approached the Yukon and exhibited significant interest in the vehicle. The detectives and officers stopped the suspect and discovered that he had the keys to the sport utility vehicle in his pocket. Further investigation revealed that the suspect had left his Florida state-issued identification card on the seat of the truck. The suspect was arrested for Grand Theft Auto and transported to the Hollywood Police Department for processing. The vehicle was recovered, processed for evidence, released to the owner at the scene, and removed from federal and state crime computer systems.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the GMC Yukon on March 14, 2007 at Sheehan Autoplex in Lighthouse Point, Florida and has been protecting it ever since.