Police recovered more than $200,000 worth of stolen Lego sets in a bust of a massive theft ring of the popular toy, officials said.
A three-month investigation revealed that the owner of a store in Eugene, Oregon — Brick Builders on Willamette Street — was "knowingly" buying new, unopened Lego sets that had been stolen from other, nearby stores, Springfield police said Tuesday on Facebook.
The thieves, police said, stole hundreds of dollars’ worth of Lego sets from local retailers and then took them to Brick Builders in exchange for cash.
Officers served a search warrant at Brick Builders on July 3 and recovered 4,153 Lego sets, police said. The total value of the sets was more than $200,000.
Police said the thieves usually got paid only "a fraction" of the Lego sets' retail value, alleging many of them used the money to buy drugs. Suspects told police in interviews that the staff at Brick Builders knew the Lego sets had been stolen recently, according to the police department's Facebook post.
John Kolego, an attorney for the owner of Brick Builders, said Thursday that many of the Lego sets shown in photos posted by police are special collector items that his client traded with other sellers across the country and could not have been stolen. Kolego said most of the sets pictured are not sold in stores.
Kolego added that while police have said they seized more than $200,000 worth of stolen Lego sets, he doesn’t believe that will be shown to be a fact once they respond to the case. He said they are looking for an opportunity to go to court and believes that this will be disproven at trial.
The "most important thing is we ask people to keep an open mind until there’s an opportunity to look at the evidence and these allegations we don’t believe are going to be proven," Kolego said.
The police department said it worked with loss prevention investigators from Target, Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble and Walmart to confirm that the owner of Brick Builders was buying Lego sets that had been stolen from their stores.
Police said suspects face charges of organized retail theft and theft by receiving.
"We all feel the impact of organized retail theft through the increasing cost of items we buy for our families," Police Chief Andrew Shearer said. "Recognizing this, SPD’s Crime Reduction Unit, with the support of our retail partners, works diligently to hold accountable those who make the choice to engage in or support retail theft."
CORRECTION (July 11, 2024, 5:30 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the state of charges in the case. Potential charges include retail theft and theft by receiving, but the suspects have not yet been formally charged.
