Fresno Sheriff’s Department Recovers Stolen RAV-4 Minutes After Theft
- January 17, 2012
- recovery stories
On January 3, 2012, the owner of a 2006 Toyota RAV-4 Sport contacted the Fresno office of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to report the vehicle stolen.
CHP officers 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 RAV-4 and initiated the tracking of the vehicle.
Just minutes later, a deputy from the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department began receiving the silent signal from the stolen RAV-4 on her onboard LoJack Police Tracking Computer. The deputy ran the reply code that appeared on her display screen and received the stolen RAV-4’s information and a description of the vehicle. Following the computer cues, the deputy then tracked the vehicle to the vicinity of Palm and Ashlan Avenues in northwest Fresno. There, the deputy located the vehicle abandoned on the side of the road in a residential area. The vehicle was recovered intact and undamaged; it was stored pending release to the owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Toyota RAV-4 in March of 2006.