Los Angeles police say they’ve busted a Lego theft ring, arresting two individuals and seizing greater than 2,800 bins of Lego toys that have been stockpiled in a Lengthy Seashore residence.
Police introduced the arrests Thursday, a day after they mentioned detectives searched the house of Richard Siegel, 71, and seized the toys.
Siegel was charged with organized retail theft. The second suspect, Blanca Gudino, 39, was arrested on expenses of grand theft.
Gudino, of Lawndale, had beforehand been recognized as a suspect in a sequence of thefts from a retail retailer in San Pedro in December, police mentioned.
On Tuesday, police mentioned, officers noticed Gudino steal objects from the identical retailer in Lakewood and Torrance. She then took the toys to Siegel’s residence, police mentioned.
When police searched Siegel’s residence, they mentioned, they discovered the stacked bins of Lego toys, with particular person bins various in worth from $20 to greater than $1,000.
The Los Angeles Police Division mentioned that whereas the officers have been working on the residence, “potential consumers of the toys arrived, lured by commercials positioned by Siegel on web gross sales websites.”
Police even have not too long ago been trying to find suspects who’ve stolen greater than $100,000 price of Lego merchandise from a number of Bricks & Minifigs shops throughout Southern California.
Police didn’t say if any hyperlinks are suspected between these thefts and the most recent arrests.
