GPS Tracking

Vehicle Tracking Device was Key to Conviction

CHENANGO COUNTY, N.Y. – A New York man was sentenced June 11 to 25 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder of his former babysitter, who he ran over with his truck.

George Ford Jr., a contractor from Piscataway, N.J. who has a seasonal residence in South Otselic, had insisted that he accidentally killed 12-year-old Shyanne Somers on July 8, 2007, while returning her home from a babysitting job. But evidence uncovered from a Global Positioning System vehicle tracking device inside the truck contradicted his telling of events.

Ford was convicted of the crime Feb. 19, 2009 by a Chenango County Court judge.

“This might be the first murder trial in the nation where charges hinged so heavily on GPS evidence,” said Steven Moehling, Vice President of Sales at LandAirSea Systems in Woodstock, IL. A LandAirSea GPS Tracking Key® vehicle tracking device was operating in Ford’s truck and documenting the vehicle’s location as the murder occurred. The vehicle tracking device was placed there by Ford’s wife, Cindy, because she suspected that her husband was having an affair. Moehling testified at the trial about the company’s GPS Tracking Key®, interpreting the data collected on the device the night of the murder, and speaking on the accuracy of its readings.

GPS tracking systems record the time, speed and geographic position of a receiver at regular intervals. Location is determined by the capture of radio signals from Department of the Defense satellites orbiting the earth. In passive systems such as the GPS Tracking Key®, the user later retrieves the vehicle tracking receiver and downloads the data stored on it for viewing on a personal computer. (more…)

A 2nd degree murder conviction was quickly handed down from the Chenango County judge in a landmark case where a GPS tracking device known as the Tracking Key provided pivotal evidence.

Data retrieved from a LandAirSea  GPS Tracking Key, a GPS tracking system used to monitor a vehicle’s activity, revealed concrete evidence that George Ford’s statements regarding his role in the death of his 12 year-old babysitter were less than accurate. With no eye-witnesses to confirm or deny Ford’s story, the GPS tracking system became vital to the prosecution’s claim that the incident was not an accident, but intentional. The GPS tracking system’s data supported the prosecution’s claim and a murder trial commenced.

If satellite technology had been in existence 75 years ago, notorious bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde might have gotten a more serious run for their money!

Originally developed by the United States Department of Defense for such military applications as navigation, target tracking, and searches and rescues,  GPS tracking systems have been heralded as the new method with which to fight crime and ensure public safety.  They are increasingly finding their way into America’s courtrooms as an effective means of producing certain evidence that was not available even ten years ago.

Global positioning systems (GPS) are able to identify a suspect’s physical location using the numerous satellites that orbit the earth.  Offenders wearing GPS tracking devices enable law enforcement officials to track the whereabouts and movements of these offenders almost second by second.

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As seen in New York Central NBC

Back in July, George Ford was arrested in Chenango County for the death of a 12-year-old girl. Ford was charged with reckless endangerment. However, authorities discovered there was a global positioning system in his car. The device is called a tracking key. Ford’s wife put it in his truck, because she suspected he was having an affair. Based on the information taken from the tracking key, Ford was charged with murder.

To test this out, we got our town tracking key from Land Air Sea Systems. For the test, we put it in one of our news cars and headed down to Chenango County. The tracking key followed our every move, just as the Chenango County District Attorney says it did to George Ford.

“The tracking key provided vital information that we never would have had or have been able to prove,” says Joseph McBridge, Chenango County District Attorney.

However, can the information be trusted? The Vice President of Land Air Sea Systems testified to a grand jury in the in the Ford cast that it can.

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