LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — A truck owner helped deputies track down his stolen 2023 Dodge Ram with GPS and a strategic plan, landing one thief in handcuffs. 

Teo Rodriguez, who lives in Lehigh Acres, said a group of people worked together to steal his truck out of his garage on Broadway Avenue Tuesday, in the middle of the day. Thanks to the GPS tracker, Rodriguez was watching their entire joyride in real time.

His wife was the only one home and after hearing their security alert system go off, she quickly called Rodriguez.

“If she would’ve happened come in when they were inside of the house, grabbing the keys out of the laundry room or wherever she had them, I just wonder what they would’ve done to my wife,” said Rodriguez. “That’s one thing that I’m very angry about.”

The couple was on the phone with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, tracking the location of the stolen truck as it cruised all over Lehigh. Rodriguez waited until the stolen truck was behind the post office near South Loop Boulevard to disable its engine with his phone. Deputies then swarmed the truck, arresting the driver, Larissa Michelle Crews on scene. 

According to the LCSO report, three other people were in the vehicle and were taken in for further questioning. 

“I was thinking that it was going to be gone, honestly,” said Rodriguez. “We had a vehicle stolen before from the family, and it was never recovered.”

This time the thieves weren’t so lucky.

Crews is being charged with burglary and vehicle theft.