TACOMA, Wash. — When Lauri Bush discovered someone had broken into her house, stolen her keys and her brand new Kia Forte, she immediately called police and her car dealership.
She remembered that when she bought her car, she had a device installed called Geo Tracker GPS.
It can track where the car is going and can disable the car remotely when it is not moving.
"It's amazing, I would have never thought that. Never have I even dreamed of having your car stolen and having it home within 2 and a half hours," said Bush.
While she was on the phone with the dealership to find out how to track the thieves through an app the tracking device works with, she was also on the phone with a 911 dispatcher.
"911 kept asking where are they at? Where are they at?" said Bush.
She disabled the car while the thieves were at a Safeway gas station in Graham.
The thieves thought something was wrong with the car, so they kept trying to re-start it. They tried 15 times and then pushed it into a nearby parking lot.
Police were waiting for them, and arrested them.
"They're just dumb they're just dumb," said Bush.
Ryan Mirante offers the product on every car that's sold at Kia of Puyallup.
He says many car buyers are skeptical it will work.
"This proves that this does work. and the great news is with insurance companies a lot of insurance companies give breaks for having it for having this," Mirante added, "I definitely think a story like this will definitely increase knowing that it does work."
Guy Post owns the company that makes the product and said it costs anywhere from $600 - $1000.
"Our units can alert the owner of a break-in or send a text or email to them if someone moves the car from the actual parking spot. The owner has the ability to see where the vehicle is in real time, and send an electronic alert to the unit to kill the starter the next time the vehicles ignition is turned off.
The unit also has an internal backup battery that keeps it powered if the vehicles battery is cut. Auto theft prevention and recovery are just one of the many uses for our system.
Keeping track of teen drivers, making sure Grandma or Grandpa are safe on the road or making sure employees are using vehicles properly and not speeding are some of the other ways our customer base here in the Pacific Northwest uses our product," said Post.
Tyler Barrett, Stephen Morris, and Richard Miller were all arrested in connection with the theft. They are scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on Sept. 11.
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