Thieves caught with help of LoJack

The LoJack Stolen Vehicle Recovery System allows authorities to track vehicles and motorcycles. Raleigh police are crediting the system with helping them locate nine stolen bikes.

Burt Shelby's motorcycle was taken Thursday morning from his apartment complex parking lot on Barrymore Street.

Shelby said he probably wouldn’t have seen his bike again, but the thieves stole another motorcycle that same morning on South Walnut Creek Parkway. That bike was equipped with a LoJack system.

"I was pretty hysterical,” motorcycle owner, Phillip Bisbee, said of the theft.

Bisbee owns a yellow Suzuki. He had heard about motorcycle thefts in the area so he bought a LoJack tracking device for his bike.

The LoJack transmitter hidden on Bisbee's motorcycle gives off a signal. Anytime the bike is rolled 20 feet without his permission, Bisbee said, he gets an alert.

"So if the key is not in it, and I roll it to the end of the parking lot, I get a phone call,” Bisbee said.

The officer responded to the source of the signal, in the 2400 block of Raymond Smith Road.

The men ran through some woods but were eventually taken into custody by police. Other stolen motorcycles were located in the woods, police said, including Shelby's Honda.

They checked VIN numbers to reunite the bikes with their owners.

"You could see different bikes just stashed in the woods, just leaning against trees,” Shelby said.

"I shook his (Bisbee) hand so many times,” Shelby said.

Bisbee said he paid $900 for the LoJack system. LoJack guarantees that authorities can track and recover a  vehicle within 24 hours, or the corporation will refund the cost of the system.

The trailer was reported stolen on July 11, which is also the date of the first reported motorcycle larceny associated with the suspects, according to police.