LoJack Helps CT State Police Recover Takeuchi Excavator Stolen from MD Construction Co, 1 Arrested
- January 15, 2013
- recovery stories
On December 5, 2012, the operator of a Sharptown (MD) construction company discovered that his business had been burglarized during the previous night. Security cameras had been tampered with to prevent them from recording the theft of some construction equipment from the business. However, a 2000 Takeuchi Mini Excavator TB135 – along with a trailer – was discovered missing. The owner contacted the Maryland State Police to report the theft.
The Barrack E-Salisbury State Police were verified the theft and had the excavator’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers, which automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the equipment.
The following day, officers with the CT State Police in a fixed wing aircraft equipped with a LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC), began picking up the silent homing signals coming from the stolen excavator. The pilots contacted the Newtown Police and were able to give a location where the signal was coming from. Ground units, equipped with PTCs, headed in that direction, and continued to track the excavator to a residence in Newtown, CT. On the property were numerous other pieces of equipment, containers, construction material and tools. The excavator was in the back of the property. The Newtown police conducted a search of the property and an interview of the property owner. He was later arrested for larceny and released on a $10,000 bond. Newtown Police, Maryland State Police and the National Insurance Crime Bureau area all handling the investigation into the burglary.
This is the second time this excavator has been stolen and recovered through the use of LoJack since it was installed for a Maryland construction company in 2006. The stolen trailer, not equipped with LoJack, has not been recovered.