Two individuals have been arrested in the US for allegedly stealing $400,000 worth of LEGO sets in a long-running scheme.
The suspects, Brian Keith Fleming and Ladarion Dontre Anderson, were arrested by officials in Texas for allegedly stealing LEGO sets from Walmart and Target across four different states. The total value of goods came to more than $400,000 (around £315,000), with invoices showing that more than 500 LEGO sets were resold for around market price in just four months this year.
According to local prosecutors, as reported by the Independent, the men would buy cheap products from the stores in question, then alter the receipts to appear as though they had actually purchased expensive LEGO builds. The men would then go back into the stores, walk out with the LEGO sets, and show the fake receipts if and when they were questioned.
The investigation dates all the way back to October 2022, when a Texas Highway Patrol trooper found 19 unopened digital printing machines for recipes in a car during a traffic stop. The driver could apparently not explain their presence.
This led to the suspects, Fleming and Anderson, being investigated by police, who then found out they were part of a group of up to 10 people who are thought to have allegedly been running the scheme since 2021. Stores in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Oklahoma, Florida, and Pennsylvania are thought to have been targeted.
Fleming and Anderson are both aged 33 and come from Lancaster, Texas. They now face charges of engaging in organised criminal activity and theft exceeding $300,000. The Texas Department of Public Safety has stated that they expect to make more arrests in this case.
This wouldn't be the first time that people have allegedly sought to use stolen LEGO sets to turn a profit, with similar schemes uncovered in LA, Oregon, Kent, and London, to name but a few locations. This has led some retailers to take unusual steps to prevent LEGO thefts.
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