LoJack Helps Police Recover Toyota Highlander & Mountain Bike; Leads to the Arrest of Burglary Suspect

  • February 29, 2012

The Toyota Highlander had been parked in the owner’s garage.  A person in the home observed a male subject driving the Toyota Highlander out of the garage with the family’s trek bicycle in the rack. The crime was quickly reported to the Raleigh Police Department (RPD).

Little did the victim know, the same suspect had committed an armed robbery from a person near his home earlier in the day. The suspect ran from that crime scene and into the housing development to find and steal a vehicle to get away.

 Having reported the vehicle stolen to the Raleigh PD, the vehicle information was entered into the NCIC police computer.  This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle.

Within minutes, officers with the Raleigh PD received the LoJack homing signal from the stolen Toyota Highlander The signal was tracked to the Six Forks Road and Spring Forrest Road area in Raleigh. Following the directional and audible signal of their LoJack Police Tracking Computers, officers were taken into an apartment complex. The vehicle was located parked in the parking lot.

The suspect had abandoned the Highlander and the bike had been removed from the rack.  Officers searched the surrounding wooded area, locating the bike a short distance away from the Highlander.  Officers with K-9 tracking located the suspect and recovered the Highlander car keys in the suspect’s pants pocket.  The Highlander and bike was processed for latent evidence and returned to the owner without damage.  The suspect was jailed for armed robbery, burglary and larceny.

Note: Portions of this story were obtained from Raleigh Police Department