First it was fire hydrants, now it’s Lego objects. I guess we’ve established that thieves in southern California will steal just about anything.
Two suspects have pilfered Lego items valued at more than $100,000 from six different Bricks & Minifigs stores in SoCal. If you’re not familiar with the store, it resells Lego figures, bricks, and other merchandise and has more than 100 outlets across the U.S. It caters to people who are looking for a particular Lego set they remember from their childhood.
The stores have experienced one-off shoplifting, of course, but the current operation is more large-scale and systematic and involves a two-man team. One guy breaks into the store and loads up a garbage bag with Lego loot, while the other waits to drive the getaway car. The thieves focus on those little Lego figurines, which the Bricks & Minifigs operators price at as much as $500 to $600 apiece.
Think about that: those annoying Lego pieces that you stepped on because your kids and their friends left them spread out all over the family room carpet might now be worth hundreds of dollars–that is, if you hadn’t pitched the boxes of leftover Lego debris when your kids went off to college. And the Lego lifting isn’t limited to SoCal, either; stores in other parts of the country also have been hit by thieves. Believe it or not, there is an active black market for stolen Lego pieces, with especially popular kits selling for thousands of dollars.
What’s a suitable punishment for robbers who would target innocent Lego items? Jail of course, but I suggest a special cell in which the thieves are required to walk barefoot across a cell floor strewn with Lego bricks and other tiny, sharp-cornered Lego pieces.
Webner House 