Durham County sheriff's deputy discovers tracking device planted on vehicle

Durham County Sheriff’s Office employees made a disturbing discovery last week, finding a GPS tracking device under one of their cars.

Court records show deputies executed a search warrant on a suspect back in August of 2021.

That man fled the scene and began making threatening phone calls to deputies. The warrant states he joked about putting a tracker on a deputy’s truck.

However, it wasn’t until last week, when two other employees drove the truck to Alabama, that they found a device, a Logistimatics GPS Tracker, while hooking up the trailer hitch.

Former Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews called the discovery concerning.

"It appears that maybe that was done with some type of evil intent, to track whoever, or wherever that vehicle was at," Andrews said. "Someone going to the extent of maneuvering to get to the vehicle, wherever it was parked at the time that the tracker was placed, is kind of alarming."

Former Durham County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Brad Kirby retired in 2018. He said he used to worry about being followed home.

"A tracker is a different story," Kirby said. "They don’t have to follow you, they can see where you’re at, and that’s bad news."

Kirby said people holding grudges can be dangerous.

"Unfortunately, people have to go to jail, people get a ticket for driving or whatever, but at the end of the day, it’s just business for us," Kirby said. "We’re just regular people like everyone else, and I think people forget that.

"Unfortunately, in this day and age, these threats are being carried out, and that’s what’s evolving, very fast."

Andrews said while he’s never heard of a GPS tracker like this targeting Durham law enforcement, he wasn’t surprised about the threat.

"It’s important that we support the people that are out there wearing that uniform, wearing that badge," Andrews said.

The search warrant requested to seize and search any correspondence, including location, direction, time and speed, and any information stored or transferred on the network. The sheriff's office also asks to look into all information for the subscriber and all records tied to the serial number.

The tracking device was a Logistimatics 4G LTE 200 MOBILE Global Positioning Tracker.

No charges have been filed in the case.

The Durham County Sheriff’s Office is not commenting on the matter, citing the active investigation into the incident.