LoJack® System Helps Ohio State Highway Patrol Recover Dodge Magnum Stolen From Indiana
- December 22, 2015
The owner of a used automobile dealership contacted the Avon Police Department to report that a 2006 Dodge Magnum was stolen. The owner further said that two males from Ohio had looked at the Dodge the day before. He later discovered that one set of keys had been removed from the key ring and believed that they had taken them.
The Avon PD verified the theft and entered the vehicle information into the state and federal crime computers which automatically activated the LoJack® System concealed in the Dodge.
An Ohio State Highway Patrol Cessna 182 conducting routine patrol over Dayton, Ohio, picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Dodge with the LoJack Police Tracking Computers (PTC) that are installed in patrol vehicles and aircraft. Following the directional and audible cues from the PTC, the pilot was able to determine an area that the signal was coming from.
Information was passed on and a vehicle equipped with a LoJack PTC responded and determined that the signal was coming from a fenced in area behind a repair garage in Dayton. Detectives from the Dayton PD also responded and after obtaining consent they found the stolen Dodge Magnum behind the repair garage.
In an effort to change the identity of the stolen Dodge the suspects had removed the VIN plate and replaced it with another one. This is a common practice by professional auto thieves. The Dodge was impounded for processing. Information was obtained from the shop business owner. Arrests are pending further investigation by the Dayton PD.
The LoJack® System was installed in the Dodge Magnum in July 2006 at Glendale Dodge in California.