Owner of Stolen Toyota Corolla Left Keys in Ignition — Vehicle Recovered 4 Hours Later with LoJack
- January 23, 2012
- recovery stories
On December 27, 2011, the owner of a 2007 Toyota Corolla had parked her vehicle outside of her home and left the keys in the car while she went inside her residence to retrieve some items. When she exited her home a short while later and returned to the parking spot, she discovered that her Toyota had been stolen. The victim immediately called and reported the auto theft to the New Orleans Police Department.
New Orleans Police responded to the scene, prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the stolen Toyota’s information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Toyota and initiated the tracking of the vehicle.
3 ½ hours later, deputies with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office received the silent homing signal from the stolen Toyota on the LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC) installed in their patrol cars. The officers then queried the LoJack “Reply Code” appearing on the PTC display screens with the police stolen vehicle computer system and received confirmation that the signal was coming from the Toyota Corolla reported stolen in New Orleans. Following the computer’s cues, the deputies tracked the signal and located the Toyota Corolla unoccupied in a parking lot on Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey, LA.
The police recovered the stolen Toyota and impounded the vehicle for safekeeping until the owner could retrieve it. The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota at the owner’s request in February 2007.