Recovery of Stolen Ford Explorer Leads to Arrest of Seven on Outstanding Drug Warrants
- April 29, 2012
- recovery stories
On March 27, 2012, the owners of a 1999 Ford Explorer discovered the vehicle stolen and immediately contacted the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Division.
The responding officer completed a stolen vehicle report had the Ford’s information entered into the California and federal crime computer systems. This police action automatically and seamlessly activated the LoJack transponder concealed within the Explorer.
Minutes later, officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street Division began to receive the Ford’s silent LoJack signal on their patrol car’s LoJack Police Tracking Computers. Following the directional and signal strength cues from the computers, the officers tracked and located the stolen Explorer to an old factory-warehouse, where they observed the vehicle inside of the building. They could hear people inside, but no one responded to the officers’ demands to exit the building. The officers sealed off the area and obtained a search warrant for the location. The officers again requested the people inside to exit, but again they got no response. When the officers entered the building, several people ran out and were quickly taken into custody. Two other people were found hiding inside the building. In total, seven people were arrested for outstanding drug warrants and three people were questioned and released.
The stolen Explorer was recovered and held for prints. 77th Street Detectives are conducting the follow-up investigation.