Michigan Police Arrest Man For Installing GPS Tracker On Woman's Vehicle During Modifications

Modifications are meant to be a fun way to improve a car's performance or aesthetics, and luckily there are shops and even dealers willing to install them for you if you're not handy. What most shops typically won't do is throw in an extra modification free of charge. But a Michigan woman found out she did receive an extra mod to her car — in the unfortunate form of a tracking device. The man who installed it, according to Michigan State Police, was arrested and is now facing charges.

The story, shared by Michigan State Police's Seventh District on X (formerly Twitter), as well as MLive, reported that a woman had taken her car to a Cadillac, Michigan repair shop earlier this year to get modifications fitted to her vehicle. This would usually be a fun and momentous occasion for a car enthusiast — getting to use those hard-earned dollars to put some cool stuff on their car, instead of just fixing it to keep it on the road. In this case, these modifications ended up taking a turn when the woman, post-delivery with mods installed, began receiving notifications on her phone that there was a GPS device located near her. She notified the Cadillac Michigan State Police, whose investigators located a tracking device in her vehicle in the passenger's compartment.

Through a search warrant, Michigan State Troopers were able to tie the GPS tracker to the phone of 49-year-old Jason Merle Jenema, who was the individual hired to install those modifications at the shop. Investigators also pulled other evidence from the phone that connected him to the device.

Jenema was arraigned in a Michigan court August 13 where he pled not guilty to charges for tracking device placement or installation on a motor vehicle without consent. He was released on a personal recognizance bond and is scheduled for a pre-trial September 2. A search through court records also revealed that Jenema is a familiar name with the Cadillac Michigan State Police post, with several recorded traffic and moving violations on his record.

Being a woman and having to interact with an industry most informed car people don't always trust is already a difficult task. Adding in that someone you're entrusting your vehicle with could potentially put a tracking device on it while under the hood doesn't help things. Especially in this digital age where plenty of stories are published about women being stalked and tracked unwillingly by men and authorities alike. In this ever-increasing connected (and surveilled) world, this has become just another thing women need to be "constantly vigilant" about. It shouldn't be a thing, but here we are for the umpteenth time talking about it.

If you or the people in your life are already not familiar with how to find tracking devices on a car, we have a guide on how to find them that you should share via this link. Here's hoping they never end up finding anything.