Chop Shop Bust in Brooklyn Garage Leads to One Arrest and Recovery of Stolen Nissan Maxima
- February 24, 2012
On January 12, 2012, the owner of a Nissan Maxima parked and locked his vehicle on the street where he lives in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, confines of the 62nd precinct. When he went outside, he noticed it was missing and immediately called the police of the 62nd precinct NYPD. When the police arrived, they took a written report and entered information about the stolen Nissan into the state and federal crime computers. This routine police action automatically activated the LoJack transponder concealed in the vehicle.
A short while later, officers with the Brooklyn South Auto Larceny Unit picked up the silent LoJack signal from the stolen Nissan and began tracking it through the Brooklyn South area. They eventually isolated the signal in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, where it appeared to be coming out of a garage in the rear of a multiple dwelling house.
The garage was locked and unoccupied. The police then made a decision to stake the garage out. After a period of time when no showed up at the garage, they obtained a search warrant for the premises. Once they entered the building, not only did they find the vehicle in question, but also another vehicle that several individuals were in the process of stripping. Also in the garage were parts from several other vehicles, revealing that the garage was actually a working chop shop.
Police ultimately identified the individual operating the shop. When he arrived at the garage, he was quickly placed under arrest.
Note: Portions of this story were obtained from the New York Police Department