A statement reads: “Volkswagen takes the safety and security of its customers very seriously. Our thoughts are with the victims and their family (Marissa Perlman/CBS 2 Chicago).” YouTube Tips ⓘ
While searching for a stolen vehicle and an endangered child, after the child’s mother was run over by carjackers in her own driveway in unincorporated Libertyville Thursday, February 23, 2023, Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives immediately called Volkswagen Car-Net, in an attempt to track the mother’s stolen vehicle. Unfortunately, there was a delay, because Volkswagen Car-Net would not track the vehicle with the abducted child until they received payment to reactivate the tracking device in the stolen Volkswagen.
VW Car-Net® Safe & Secure is an add-on subscription available to get help when you’re out on the road, according to Volkswagen. The subscription includes Emergency Assistance, remote Automatic Crash Notifications, remote Anti-Theft Alerts, remote and Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office paid about $150 to activate the locator subscription, but the action was too late.
According figures published Sunday, February 26, 2023 on the Car-Net website, the Safe & Secure EV subscription costs $159 for one year.
Volkswagen Statement on Libertyville Child Abduction
“Volkswagen takes the safety and security of its customers very seriously. Our thoughts are with the victims and their family.
Volkswagen has a procedure in place with a third-party provider for Car-Net Support Services involving emergency requests from law enforcement. They have executed this process successfully in previous incidents. Unfortunately, in this instance there was a serious breach of the process. We are addressing the situation with the parties involved.
This “procedure in place” is not mentioned in the Car-Net Terms of Service.
According to Car-Net Terms of Service (TOS) retrieved on Sunday, February 26, 2023, if a customer has paid for the applicable Service Plan that includes location service(s) for stolen vehicles, the service will attempt to locate the vehicle if it has been stolen. The policy only provides location information about stolen vehicles directly to law enforcement after receipt of required information and confirmation that the vehicle is stolen.
The TOS describes that VW Car-Net Service Providers do not have any obligation to continue attempts to locate vehicles after 30 days from the time the vehicle is first reported stolen, and Car-Net does not guarantee that the vehicle can be discovered.
The terms provide that the service does not have any obligation to try to find a vehicle outside of a vehicle theft situation, such as trying to locate an individual.
Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded about 3:35 p.m. Thursday, February 23, 2023, to a residence in the 16000 block of Route 137, unincorporated Libertyville, for a vehicular hijacking with a two-year-old child still inside the vehicle.
Preliminary investigation shows the 34-year-old victim just returned to her residence. She pulled into her driveway and brought one of her children inside. She came back to her car to retrieve her other child, her two-year-old son, when a white BMW (2000’s model, black bumper, and loud exhaust) pulled into her driveway, behind her car (she was driving a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas).
A man (described as being tall, thin, wearing a grey zip-up hooded sweatshirt, and a light green facemask) exited the passenger side of the BMW and struggled to get into the victim’s Volkswagen, as she tried to keep her two-year-old son safe. The offender battered the woman, knocking her to the ground. He then stole her car with the child inside. He and the driver of the BMW fled from the scene. One of the drivers ran her over as they fled, causing serious injuries to her extremities. The victim was still able to call 911 and sheriff’s deputies immediately responded.
Knowing a child was inside the vehicle, sheriff’s detectives immediately responded to the scene and the general area to search for the Volkswagen.
A short time later, a person working at a business in the 2200 block of Lakeside Drive, Waukegan, called 911 to report they just saw two vehicles enter the parking lot, and the driver of one of the cars abandoned a small child. The drivers of both vehicles then fled. The 911 caller at the business rescued the child from the parking lot, before the child wandered onto the busy roadway. Waukegan Police Officers and sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene. Sheriff’s personnel confirmed the found child was the abducted child.
Sheriff’s deputies located the stolen Volkswagen in a parking lot near Casmir Pulaski and Route 43. The vehicle will be thoroughly processed for trace evidence.
The woman who was battered and run over remains at an area hospital in serious, but stable condition.
Sheriff’s detectives continue looking for the BMW. The BMW was stolen in the past week from a car dealership in Waukegan. If you see the stolen BMW or have any information about this incident please call the Lake County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 847-377-4000 or contact Lake County CrimeStoppers at: www.lakecountycrimestoppers.org
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