California authorities arrest two men for stealing LEGO sets
DAVIS, Calif. (NBC, KYMA, KECY) - In Davis, California, two men were arrested for stealing $80,000 worth of LEGOs, mostly from local Walmart's and Target's.
The Davis Police Department (DPD) talk about the large-scale retail theft operation as well as a local toy store that says they've had LEGOs stole from them as well.
"We recovered an estimated almost $80,000 worth of merchandise," said Todd Henry with DPD.
Davis police arrested two men after they discovered them with thousands of dollars worth of stolen toys.
"A substantial amount of property, primarily LEGOs," Henry declared.
Large-scale retail theft operation
Police say the LEGOs sets were stolen from numerous stores in Davis as part of a large-scale retail theft operation.
"It's usually organized with the intent of people are going in looking for specific items that they can then provide to somebody else who's going sell them on some type of market," Henry added.
They believe that thieves are targeting these toys because they can cost from as low as $20 to up to $200 or more.
Michael Kobayashi works at Akiba HQ Anime Store, a toy store that sells model kits in Davis. He says they have been targeted in the past.
"At one point actually, one of our U-hauls got stolen and it had a ton of product that was probably at least $10,000 worth of product," Kobayashi spoke.
Piecing the cases together
He says the high demand for these model-kits makes it easy for thieves to make a profit.
"They can be sold pretty high depending, you know. You just mark it down slightly and then you can just offload them really quickly," Kobayashi explained.
That is why they take precautions like security cameras and an alarm system.
While Davis police are piecing these cases together, Henry says they'll be working closely with businesses "to kind of identify patterns or series to be able to put those cases together more quickly."
