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By Shannon Henry

For my brother’s 19th birthday our parents bought him a new car. Due to a history of some poor decision making on his part, they also installed a GPS tracking device without his knowledge. They were worried that, now that he had more freedom, he might slip up and begin hanging out with the wrong crowd again. He assured us that this wouldn’t happen, but parents tend to worry. As you will see, it is a good thing that they do.

A few weeks after his birthday, my brother asked if I would like to go to the mall and help him pick out a present for his long-time girlfriend. I had nothing to do, so I decided to come along as an excuse to get out of the house. Really, the mall is close enough to walk to, but he had a new car and wanted to drive.

We got to the mall and proceeded to go to the jewelry store. My brother picked out a simply gorgeous white gold necklace for his girlfriend. Nice choice!

We headed back to the car and got in. He noticed that the back windshield was covered with a piece of paper and went to get rid of it. Things happened very quickly then. With my brother at the back of the car, a masked gun man hoped into the open driver‘s side door. I was told to get out, which I did. The man then sped off in my brother’s car.

My brother didn’t realize what was happening at first, I think he thought I was playing a prank on him until he saw me shakily leaning against a nearby car. He then called 911 and gave them a description of what had happened. While he was doing that, I came to my sense and called our dad. I told dad that we were at the mall and the car had just been stolen. He then told me that the car had a GPS tracking device and gave me the password for my brother to relay to the dispatch center.

Our dad came and got us to take us home. My brother was mad to find out that they hadn’t trusted him, but what really upset him was that the necklace had been in the car when it was stolen. He was more worried about that than the car.

I can’t say I really understand exactly how a GPS car tracker device works, but it must be fantastic. We weren’t home more than two hours when we got a call that our car had been found. The thief was caught as he filled up at a gas station. And best of all for my brother, the necklace was still in the car. Everything ended very well, and we were lucky to have the GPS tracking device in the car.