Marina del Rey : Device Reveals ‘Chop-Shop’

Los Angeles police have recovered a vehicle stolen from Marina del Rey by tracking down an electronic signal given off by its anti-theft, homing device.

The recovery of the 1990 Jeep Cherokee Sunday night marked the second such recovery of a vehicle stolen in Los Angeles since the Police Department began using the LoJack system in July.

The Jeep was reported stolen from a residential street Saturday night. Its signal was picked up the next night by police officers on patrol in South Los Angeles. Using LoJack computers installed in their squad cars, police traced the vehicle to the back yard of a house on the 4900 block of Wall Street, according to Officer Robert Weisz. He said the back yard appeared to be a “chop-shop”--where stolen cars are broken down into parts for resale.

At the site, police recovered another stolen vehicle, parts stripped from several others and about $50,000 in other stolen property, Weisz said. No one was arrested, but Weisz said police have one or two suspects in the case.

In the first recovery involving the LoJack system, police on Aug. 4 recovered a 1990 BMW 325i that had been stolen while parked in Hollywood just hours earlier. Police arrested a suspect who was found driving the car near Los Angeles International Airport.