Lexus RX350 Stolen During Home Burglary in Exeter — Recovered, Abandoned in Orange Grove
- March 13, 2012
- recovery stories
The owners of a 2007 Lexus RX350 returned home from vacation on the evening of February 14, 2012 to discover that their home had been burglarized and their vehicle stolen from the garage. The victims immediately contacted the Exeter Police Department to report the theft.
Exeter Police gathered the relevant information about the crime and the vehicle, and had the Lexus’s information entered into the California and national crime computer databases. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the Lexus. Neither the owners nor law enforcement had to do anything else to activate the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery Network, because LoJack’s interface with law enforcement is both seamless and instantaneous.
Early the following morning, an officer from the Exeter Police Department began receiving the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Lexus on his onboard LoJack Police Tracking Computer (PTC). The officer ran the reply code that appeared on his display screen and received the stolen vehicle information and a description of the Lexus. Following the computer’s tracking cues, the officer located the Lexus, abandoned in an orange grove near Morgan Avenue and Spruce Road, about a mile outside of the city of Exeter.
Members of TRATT, the Tulare County Auto Theft Task Force conducted surveillance on the vehicle for several hours, but the thieves never returned. The keys, which had been left in the ignition of the vehicle when the owner left on vacation, were found in the console of the vehicle. The vehicle was ultimately recovered, intact and undamaged; it was released to the owner.
The LoJack Vehicle Recovery System was installed in the Lexus RX350 in June 2006.