FROM THE ROSEBURG OREGON
NEWS REVIEW
August 26, 2003
Signal leads police to airport burglary suspect
CHRISTIAN BRINGHURST
Lucas Register never suspected the equipment he is accused of stealing
from an airport hangar last week would lead authorities right to his door.
But police allegedly followed a homing signal from the stolen
emergency locator transmitter right up to a closet door in his
Winchester apartment Saturday. He was arrested on suspicion of
second-degree burglary and first-degree theft. The 22-year-old is
charged with breaking into a hangar at the Roseburg Regional Airport
Friday night and taking the transmitter and other items, according to
a Roseburg Police Department press release.
"It's to allow us to find a downed aircraft," said Tom Hyers,
coordinator of the Amateur Radio Emergency Services Division of the
Douglas County Search and Rescue team. The radio team provides
communications support for search and rescue and other emergency
operations in the county, including plane crashes.
The device transmits a signal to a satellite receiver, which then
relays the transmitter's geographical coordinates to authorities at
Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Langley sent the information to
the Oregon Operations of Emergency Management Saturday, which notified
officials in Douglas County that a signal had been transmitting since
that morning.
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