Top Five Motorcycle Recoveries Of 2011
- December 30, 2011
From busting chop shops and recovering a bike stolen from a soldier recently back from Afghanistan to arresting thieves, these stories demonstrate how LoJack continues to be the most effective system today for protecting motorcycles from theft…and getting sophisticated bike thieves off the streets.
Top Motorcycle Recoveries of 2011:
#5 LoJack Signal Penetrates Thick Woods; Helps Recover Multiple Stolen Motorcycles The owner of a 2008 Yamaha YZF 1000 motorcycle was dismayed to find his bike stolen from a public street in Charles County, MD. A short while after the owner reported the bike stolen and the LoJack System was activated, flight officers with the Prince Georges Police Department received the silent LoJack signal on the Police Tracking Computer installed in their helicopter. The signal took the officers to a wooded area and they alerted ground units to help on foot. Officers searched the woods using handheld tracking devices and located the Yamaha, along with three other stolen non-LoJack equipped motorcycles. All the owners were very happy to get their motorcycles back.
#4 LoJack Recovers Stolen Suzuki and Also Finds Stolen Truck, Trailer and ATV –The owner of a 2009 Suzuki GSX 1300 reported his motorcycle stolen to the Charleston, SC Police Department. This action triggered the LoJack unit — hidden deep inside the motorcycle — to start emitting a silent radio signal. Shortly after activation, a deputy with the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office detected the unique LoJack signal on his Police Tracking Computer. He tracked the signal to an enclosed, locked trailer that was attached to a Ford F-250 pickup truck at an apartment complex. No driver or owner could be located. After investigation and entry into the trailer, the Suzuki was discovered intact and undamaged. As an added bonus, the officer discovered that the Ford F-250 was also stolen along with the covered trailer and a Honda ATV!
#3 Thief Hides Stolen Motorcycle in Tight Apartment Quarters, but LoJack Gets it Back — After the owner of a 2006 Suzuki GSXR 1000 noticed that his bike was missing from a local hotel parking lot, he reported the theft to the Daytona Beach Shores, SC Police Department. The bike’s information was entered into the state and federal crime computers, which triggered a signal from the LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System hidden inside the Suzuki. An Orangeburg County Sheriff’s deputy detected the signal and tracked it to an apartment complex. The deputy was able to pinpoint the signal from the stolen Suzuki to the window of a ground floor apartment. Deputies entered the apartment and found the stolen motorcycle inside a tiny bedroom. The ignition had been removed but the motorcycle was otherwise undamaged. It took four deputies an hour to remove the motorcycle from the tight quarters of the apartment. The occupant of the apartment was arrested and the bike was returned to its owner.
#2 LoJack Helps Police Bust Major Chop Shop, Recovers Stolen Bike for the Second Time – The owner of a 2008 Honda CBR 600 motorcycle parked and locked his bike on the street outside his apartment in the Columbia Heights section of Manhattan. When he returned, it was missing and he immediately reported the theft to the NYPD. Within a short while, police at the Brooklyn North Auto Larceny Unit picked up the signal and tracked it to a residential area in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. The signal was emanating from the basement of a multiple dwelling building. As the police approached the door of the basement, they noticed it was ajar. Peeking through the opening, they observed a motorcycle and they smelled a strong odor of gasoline. They called for Emergency Service Police to gain entry to the basement because the gas presented a dangerous situation for residents of the building. A search of the basement revealed a treasure trove of stolen motorcycles and motorcycle parts. All together, 23 intact motorcycles were recovered, as well as parts from nearly 50 different motorcycle makes and models. They also found a carton loaded with all the parts from a completely disassembled motorcycle. The LoJack-equipped Honda CBR was recovered with minor damage. The owner was elated that his bike was recovered so quickly, especially since it had been stolen and recovered once before in San Antonio, TX.
#1 Afghan Vet’s Harley Stolen; LoJack Gets it Back — A Sergeant First Class in the Army National Guard, who had just returned from deployment in Afghanistan, went to retrieve his 2009 Harley Davidson Softail motorcycle from a storage facility in Everett, MA. It was nowhere to be found and the storage facility hadn’t taken inventory of the facility for four months prior to the Sergeant’s return. The Sergeant reported the theft to the Everett Police Department, which activated the LoJack covertly installed in his bike. Shortly after activation, officers with the Manchester, NH Police Department Auto Theft Unit began picking up the silent signal from the bike and tracked it to a garage at a residence in Manchester. The bike was recovered intact and the investigation is ongoing. Both LoJack and the police were very pleased to recover the bike for the Sergeant who had served our country.
About LoJack Corporation
LoJack Corporation, the company that invented the stolen vehicle recovery market more than 25 years ago, is the global leader in finding and recovering a wide range of mobile assets including cars, construction equipment and motorcycles—having recovered nearly $4 billion USD in stolen assets worldwide. In today’s rapidly changing world, LoJack’s core competencies are more valuable and more relevant than ever as they are now being applied into new areas, such as the prevention, detection and recovery of stolen cargo and finding and rescuing people with cognitive conditions such as autism and Alzheimer’s. For more information, visit www.lojack.com,