GPS Tracking and Arson — Now This Just Burns Me Up

Every now and then a story which at first seems far removed from anything that would connect with GPS just sort of "pops up" by accident … just like the fact that this dufuss must have known his truck had GPS tracking but was to dumb to think it might track his non-trucking activities:

BEAVER, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania trucker linked to arson by his truck’s global positioning device will spend up to 10 years in prison.

Forty-eight-year-old Thomas (Homer?) Reinhardt, of New Brighton, was sentenced after pleading guilty to arson and causing a catastrophe before Beaver County Judge John Dohanich on Wednesday.

Reinhardt must also pay $344,900 to two families whose homes caught fire when he set fire to his home on April 5.

Reinhardt initially told police he was at a Butler County rest stop when the fire broke out. But GPS records from Reinhardt’s trucking company showed his rig was parked about 100 yards from his house.

Police say he was going through a divorce and was behind on his mortgage. He must undergo mental health counseling.

I write here often about how you, as an employer should be tracking your vehicles for sound, dollars and cents business reasons.  The higher the cost of gas the faster you save money, by the way.  But there are sometimes more reasons than just the bottom line bucks.  I bet the innocent people who this SOB burned out of their homes are grateful to his employer.

Sometimes there is more than pennies at stake in this life.