California police arrest four in $300,000 stolen Lego brick bust

Los Angeles citizens can rest easy knowing that a criminal theft ring is no longer stalking the city’s retail stores to feed a Lego black market. That’s because the California Highway Patrol (CHP) announced this week that it had arrested four people it accused of swiping what police estimated was “approximately $300,000” worth of Lego sets.

The four had allegedly burgled stores like Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s of their Lego stock and sold them to black-market dealers who would then vend the stolen bricks at “seemingly legitimate businesses, swap meets, or online.” Police say they were booked on “charges related to Organized Retail Theft, Grand Theft, and Conspiracy to commit a crime.”

The CHP posted images of the bust on Instagram. Stolen sets included the $85 921-piece Millennium Falcon (as opposed to the 7,000-plus piece, $800 behemoth from 2017), the $500 6,167-piece Lord of the Rings Rivendell castle, and a $170 1,458-piece Porsche 911 set.

Like any other collectible, Lego sets are prime targets. In 2021, French police announced they were investigating an international Lego crime ring. That same year, authorities in Seattle arrested a shop owner accused of selling stolen Lego sets following a clumsily named “Operation: MandalOrganized Retail Theft” investigation, as NBC News reported.