Snowy Weather Conditions Delay, Not Prevent, Quick Recovery of Stolen Mercedes C230 in Washington
- February 2, 2012
- recovery stories
In the early morning hours of January 15, 2012, the owner of a 2007 Mercedes-Benz C230 left the vehicle, with the engine running, in an alley in the 3400 block of 15th Avenue West in Seattle. A thief spotted an opportunity, jumped into the car and drove away. As soon as the owner discovered the vehicle missing, he contacted the Seattle Police Department to report the theft.
The reporting officer responded to the scene, prepared a stolen vehicle report and had the stolen Mercedes’ information entered into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Mercedes and initiated the tracking of the vehicle.
One hour later, several agencies received the silent LoJack signal transmitting from the stolen Mercedes as it drove north from Seattle toward Snohomish County. Due to extremely snowy and icy road conditions, the officers did not attempt any pursuits of the vehicle. However, less than two hours later, officers from the Everett Police Department picked up the LoJack signal and tracked the stolen Mercedes to the 10200 block of 3rd Avenue SE. There, the officers located the abandoned vehicle; the only damage was a broken inside rear view mirror.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Mercedes-Benz C230 in April of 2007 in the Los Angeles area.