WEBVTT - Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect: LEGO theft 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:05.800 Hi, Sarah, Elizabeth, what's up? 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:08.440 Not much? How you've been I'm pretty good? 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:09.680 Been good. I've been good. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:10.200 I've been good. 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.160 Yeah, I yes. How about you? You good? 0:00:13.400 --> 0:00:14.120 I'm yes. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:15.200 I think we're all good. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:17.599 Yeah, solidly good. I love your h What is that 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:19.600 Giraft print? 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:20.119 Yeah? 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.840 Draft prints. Yeah, that was a cool graft onesie. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:27.560 I'd be so overheated in a onesie. 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.600 Rh uh. You know it's ridiculous, I do. And I'm 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:34.440 so glad you asked, because I've been just buckling over 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.159 here waiting to tell you. Because it's like, Sarah, did 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:38.800 you dream this? I'm like, no, I didn't. I checked. 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.879 They didn't dream this. This is actually real. Imagine you're 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.879 on a plane, right and you're in first class and 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.240 you look over in first class with you are Charlie 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:48.760 Sheen and Nicholas Cage. 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:50.280 Oh nothing, seated. 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.520 Together, traveling together? Thank you all? Amused? 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:53.800 Right? 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.000 Well. Charlie Sheen recently told the story, and I forgot 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:58.840 because I left out my favorite part of the story. 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:01.520 Charlie Sheen was carrying two ounces of cocaine on him. 0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:04.080 He was muling drugs with Nicholas Cage. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:04.920 Course he was. 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.679 No, of course he was. The way he tells the 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.720 story quote, they still had that curtain separating first class, 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.679 so we'd pull the curtain back with the mic and 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:16.320 say something really goofy and get a couple laughs. And 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.920 then the mic winds up in Cage's grip and he 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:21.360 saw the tone that we had set, but he chose 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:24.360 to take it where he did. He impersonated the captain 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.160 that he's not feeling well and he's losing control of 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:29.720 the airplane. It was like right out of the movies, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.520 like you hear people start screaming, like there's always that 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:36.040 high pitched female scream in the movies. That happened right. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:37.920 So we were in a panic, and he didn't know 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:40.520 the amount of cocaine I had on me, two ounces 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.280 in a fat ziplock taped to the inside of my 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.000 inner thigh. So the steward walks right up to him 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.720 and points him right in the face and says, not cool, mister, 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:52.800 not cool. And that was about ten minutes before landing, 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:55.240 so we kind of knew we might have company, but 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.240 I still had a measure of good will with the 0:01:57.280 --> 0:01:59.600 passengers because nobody knew at that point, I was a 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.040 drug so we were detained. Now it could get a 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:05.720 lot worse. But it was that thing again where a 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.079 couple of guys were Cage fans, a couple of guys 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:10.960 were chine fans. We could feel it start to turn 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:15.360 in our favor. Sorry, and that's when the first wave 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.240 of relief hits. This is not going to be a 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.000 life changing evening. So what right? I mean the idea 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.280 that he's muling cocaine and he's like, you know who 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.680 I should bring with me while I mule cocaine, Nicholas Cage, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.160 and then Nicolas Cage does what Nicolas Cage does, and 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.280 Trojans like, oh man, and then these two charmed. The 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:36.600 way out of things like that is just. 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:40.480 Row up and row up, be a grown man. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.160 This is why crime is not fair. It's because some 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.080 people just skate by on things like hey, I'm Charlie Sheen. 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.480 Other people are like, I did the smallest thing and 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:49.119 I lost. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:53.520 My whole life for exactly exactly ridiculous. That is ridiculous. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.600 Do you want to know what else is ridiculous? Messing 0:02:56.680 --> 0:03:20.240 with the house of brick, This is ridiculous. Crime. A 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:25.839 podcast about absurd and outrageous capers. Heis and cons it's 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:29.880 always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:30.720 Are you damn right? 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:35.080 I got a request for an episode from a long 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:36.760 time day one. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:37.680 Rude dude Nice. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.160 He had something that he wanted to hear us talk about. 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.800 And he's someone maybe the only person on this planet 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:47.720 that I will do whatever he asks. Really, yeah, that 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:49.000 rude dude is my nephew. 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.640 I was wondering, who do you hook me on that 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:54.560 last one? I was like, who could this guy? 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.040 He is newly seven years old, no longer obsessed with Batman. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:05.440 His new love Legos. Oh yeah, all about I can 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.760 see Legos. So I got him two sets for his birthday. 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:10.160 Nice, and his only. 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.000 Request is that they be for eighteen and over and 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:15.560 have like thousands of pieces. 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:16.760 He's so smart. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:18.000 Eighteen like adult Legos. 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:20.200 I want the hardest ones you can Legos after Dark. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.760 Yeah, he just like, I don't want this children's stuff. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:24.080 Yeah. 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.520 I didn't know that they did age categorizations by difficulty. 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.920 Now he has the DeLorean from Back to the Future 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.560 that he made articulated parts. It's huge. When I was 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.720 a kid, Legos just like came in bins or whatever, 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.880 and they were like all sorts of random colors and 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.600 shapes and sizes and like you get what I'm talking 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:45.400 about totally or. 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.800 Also in the collection would be like you could do 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:50.839 like say, one of five different things, and like the 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.839 castle was the hardest, the barn is the easiest or whatever. 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:55.520 Castle and barn. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.280 But you know, now, those buckets of bricks are hard 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.440 to come by. They're all about sets now, and like 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.599 you and I have adult friends who love Lego sets. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.279 Oh yeah, they buy the absolutely enormous ones to build. 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.440 It's like a whole world out there, and I didn't 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:12.520 really know about. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.960 It, Oh my god. And all the minifigure they call 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:17.720 it minifigs, minifigs. It's all about those two because like 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.160 there's rare ones, there's combinations, there's like I got to 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:21.919 get this one hat or whatever. 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:25.520 Right right, all the accessories. I've learned a lot about 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.640 Legos lately, and when I learn about things, I always 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.880 want to know how they can also be crimes? Do 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.520 is this crime? Is this crime adjacent? Is this thing 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.680 ever valuable? Can it be stolen or become like a 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:40.000 fraud bearing item? 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:40.440 Yes? 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:44.360 Yeah, So the answer Zaren is yes. And today I'm 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.880 going to tell you about Lego crime. But first let's 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.760 learn a little about Lego, shall. 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:50.560 We Lego itself? 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:56.440 Lego itself. It was August tenth, nineteen thirty two Billund Denmark, 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:02.640 a carpenter named Ole Kirk christians started a business making toys, 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:07.200 and in nineteen thirty four he renamed the company Lego. 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.800 And this comes from the Danish phrase of leg gout, 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.440 meaning play well ok. And the name also happens to 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.960 mean I put together or I assemble in Latin. 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:18.200 Interesting. 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:19.919 Yeah, it's a beautiful synchronicity. 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:20.039 Yeah. 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:25.240 So Lego stayed Wooden into the nineteen forties, I remember this, Yeah, 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.160 But after World War Two it was all about plastics, baby. 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:33.640 So Christiansen he started experimenting with these like plastic injection 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.880 molding technologies. 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.880 Because before then is basically like Lincoln logs, right, yeah. 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.560 Yeah. And so in nineteen forty nine Lego introduced these 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:47.200 really rudimentary interlocking plastic bricks. And it was Ole Kirk's son, 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:53.400 Godfred Kirk Christiansen who changed the game. So he took 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:56.360 the helmet Lego the same year that his dad passed 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.719 away nineteen fifty eight, Lego rolled out. It's now I 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.800 bricks system. I don't think those two events were related, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.560 the death and the rollout. So they got that like 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.960 stud and tube coupling design. They call it patented, and 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.200 that's the design you see in the bricks today. And 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.400 Godfred's time in charge saw this period of like absolutely 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:23.480 crazy growth for Lego in the sixties and the seventies, 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.320 Lego went from just like this Danish toy maker to 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.080 an internationally recognized mega brand. 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.600 I was wondering when they went international sixties. 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.040 And sixties and seventies, and while the design didn't change, 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:37.920 they just kept innovating and evolving. So in nineteen sixty 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:41.400 nine they made Lego duplo blocks okay yeah, yeah, easy 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:46.040 little hands, not a choking hazard, and they I don't 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:47.600 think there is this painful to step on. 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:49.280 Probably not, probably not. 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:55.800 In nineteen seventy eight they launched Lego Minifigures anifigs, and 0:07:55.920 --> 0:08:00.920 those are those small posable figures with interchangeable snap on hair, the. 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:02.600 Whole thing, the whole tame half the. 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:09.000 Head, yeah, legs come off. Yeah. So Godfred's son killed 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:14.280 Kirk Christensen, thank you, It's probably wrong. He became CEO 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.960 in nineteen seventy nine, and he continued the expansion. He 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:19.640 like went super worldwide. 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:20.960 Their generation goes up. 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:23.840 Yeah, he started building Lego Land theme parks. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:25.080 Oh wow, he's the one. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.280 He's the one. So by the late nineties early two thousands, though, 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.520 Lego was having serious money trouble. Why they expanded way 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.800 beyond bricks, like the theme parks, video games, clothing, that 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.640 sort of thing, okay, and they kind of neglected the 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.160 bricks and so kids they're being sold video games and 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.760 they forgot about Legos, right, kind of the way they 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:47.480 forgot about Dre. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:48.840 Never forget about Dre. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.120 So by two thousand and three, two thousand and four, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.520 Lego was on the brink of bankruptcy. Really yeah, boo, 0:08:56.640 --> 0:09:00.959 we don't like that. This led to a may you're restructuring. 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.880 So Jorgan Big Nudstorp, h that's not an Ikea product. 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.480 That's a guy who was a former McKenzie consultant. He 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.280 got named CEO and he was the first person outside 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.600 of the Kirk Christensen family to lead the company. Right, 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:23.760 So Nudstorp's turnaround strategy was like super precise. He divested 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.520 the non core businesses so he sold the Lego Land 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.160 parks to Merlin Entertainments. 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:30.520 Interesting, but they. 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:34.439 Yeah, they stayed Lego Land and the Christiansen's family holding 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.200 company kept a steak okay, franchised it out. Yeah, and 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:42.000 then he put the focus back on the core brick product. 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.360 I love it, you know, you love fundamentals. So doing 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:51.320 that involved rebuilding the company's entire licensing strategy. So they 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.720 set up partnerships with Star Wars back in nineteen ninety nine, 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.560 and then they just doubled down on it. They locked 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.640 in Harry Potter, Marvel, Mario Brothers, a bunch of other 0:10:01.720 --> 0:10:06.720 major franchises. Yes, okay, and that's the Lego. 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:08.360 We know today that all the kids know. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.440 Yeah. So the whole comeback was legendary. No other toy 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:14.000 company had come back from the. 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.280 Brink like that. Really. 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:18.000 Yeah, Galube was looking up at Lego from the bottom 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.280 of a cliff like whispering for them, like, just go on, 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:27.560 make toys proud. That's a deep cut. Yeah. So Lego 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.640 went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the world's 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:32.880 largest toy maker by revenue. 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.720 So this is what this is, like what Erector set 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.280 never figured out how to correct. 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.200 Correct. Ownership of the company is still in family hands. 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:46.319 That family leadership recently passed to a fourth generation, and 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.520 that's Thomas Kirk Christiansen. He took over his chair of 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.800 the board of directors from his dad. The Kirk Christiansen family. 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.280 As of twenty twenty two, it was the wealthiest family 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.800 in Denmark net worth of about thirty two point eight 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.120 billion dollars. 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:01.760 Wow. 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.480 Yeah, it's been good to them. Yeah, and the company 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.440 is still doing bang up business. So they had twenty 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:13.120 twenty four revenue of seventy four point three billion Danish kroner, 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.880 which is like eleven point four billion American dollars. They 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:21.000 had an operating income of about almost three billion US 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.720 dollars net income of two point one two billion American dollars. 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:25.280 Not bad. 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:30.319 The world's largest toy company by sales. So those sets 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:31.920 aren't cheap, that's for sure. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.280 No, I've been shopping for nieces and nephews one hundreds of. 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.720 Dollars of some of them. The Death Star from Star 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:43.439 Wars has almost ten thousand pieces and it costs a grand. Yeah. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.640 Then there's there's a segrata familia one. They've got the 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.440 gouty cathedral that just completed almost one hundred and fifty 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:51.280 years of construction. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.800 So did Lego have to wait for the last piece, 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:55.880 the last piece that they release it? Now we can 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:56.360 sell it. 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.520 It's twelve thousand pieces and it sets you back eight 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.439 hundred dollars and it takes one hundred and forty four 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.360 years to complete. Just like the cathedral, it has like 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:11.120 stained glass really inside. Yeah, So with those high dollar values. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:12.600 Comes crime naturally. 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.400 All of the Lego crimes I have for you today 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.200 are relatively recent, and I'm sure there are historical ones, 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.200 but I think that right now is the ripest time for. 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.560 These, yeah, because the value has gone. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:25.440 So yeah, we're at a stage where the sets are 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:29.160 expensive and there's a collector's market, and so it's gone 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.120 from kids toy, although the classic sets have always had 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.360 ages four to ninety nine on the age range, and 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:39.520 then to like an all ages craft system, to like 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:41.960 collectors fetish, Yes, exactly. 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:43.600 And also, by the way, once you turn a hundred, 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.320 you can no longer play with Legos legally. 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:46.800 Sorry you're restricted. 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:47.920 Did you not see the box y? 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:49.040 I'm sorry you're gonna have to. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:50.920 It's a choking hazard. Put it down. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:51.680 And stuff. 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:53.920 It's a choke. 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.319 So you know, people like they get the boxes now, 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.600 those types of things, they never opened the box, like 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.280 those kind of oh wow, right into it. 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:05.640 I didn't like that. When I was a kid, I'd 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:07.360 have friends like that. They would buy like two of 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.120 the same toy, they play with one, they put one 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.080 in the box or keep it in the box, and 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.280 I'd always be like, I'm a terrible person. I always 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:15.360 be so tempted to like spill something on like. 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:19.640 Oh yeah, I just don't get it, like you never did. 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.440 That's that fetishization. The toy is a toy, do what 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.040 you need, but it's like preserved for eternity. 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:26.719 But then again, I'm also not rich, so I think 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.280 there's a These are a one to one relationship, and 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.679 those friends often hard hail. Well, well interesting, so put 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.400 that did you do that math for yourself? 0:13:34.440 --> 0:13:37.320 Exactly? Well, Like, here's the other thing about Lego sets. 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:43.080 They're small, light, universally recognized, carry no serial numbers, so 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:46.800 they're untraceable. Oh yeah, and so the Lego atmosphere that 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:51.840 we're living to move distributing siren called totally like come hither. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.880 So let's start with one that I find particularly hilarious. 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.400 We've got Jirell Augustine. He's a twenty eight year old 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.400 guy from Amount, California, and that's the city in La 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.320 County between Bellflower and Compton. So this went down in 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.320 like late twenty twenty five, early twenty twenty six. Oh 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:14.040 real reason, Yeah, dateline, Irvine, California. So the Irvine Police Department, 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.959 they are tipped off that someone had purchased and then 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:20.640 returned two Lego sets together worth three hundred and fifty 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.920 bucks from the target in Irvine. And like, buying something 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.680 and returning it isn't a crime, but swapping the contents 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:32.400 with something else's and what's that something else? Well, Augustine 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:37.440 allegedly put dried pasta into Star Wars and Marvel lego boxes. 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:41.360 Well yeah, well I'll tell you so it would like 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.640 mimic that rattle and the approximate way of the bricks 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.200 shifting around. He'd reseal the boxes, return them to Target 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.640 stores for cash refunds. Sure, I investigated the greeny photos 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.920 put out by the police department, and it looks like 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.560 he was using Goya brand Elbow macaroni. 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.400 Oh you really did the research. 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:03.120 The research it was in like plastic bags. Because the bricks. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.240 Are individual may need a lot of different sound. 0:15:06.120 --> 0:15:09.120 Effects, and he hit them all. So the targets were 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.880 deliberately chosen for their resale value. There's this Irvine PD 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:17.480 public information officer Ziggy as our Cone. He told CBS 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.480 News that the Star Wars and Marvel sets carry a 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.320 really high value on the secondary collector's market, and they 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.600 figured that like the bricks themselves were then sold off separately, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.360 so it wasn't just that he's returning them to get 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:35.360 the cash back. There are all these online resale channels 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.480 for collectible legosh like basically a flea market. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.480 My sister sells many figs that are like custom and 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:44.320 she'll buy like whole lots and then pick out the 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.520 ones that are valuable and then sell those as like 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:47.080 I mean. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:51.600 There's a market. And then there was another incident in 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.119 Orange County. A Target staffer opened a return box expecting 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.480 lego bricks, found the dry pasta. So it wasn't just 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:04.479 a one store, one state operation. Irvine police say Augustine 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:11.760 ran the playbook about seventy times at Target stores in California, Tennessee, Texas, 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.400 New Jersey, Florida. He pulled in about thirty four thousand 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:17.560 dollars from this scam. 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:22.080 That's not I thought you were going to say, like Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.640 He went up and down forty. Yeah, they found unboxed 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.920 Lego bricks absolutely stockpiled inside his house when they raided 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.360 it April fifteenth, twenty twenty six. And then after he 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:38.440 was arrested, he gets booked in on grand theft charges. Yeah, 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.160 this wasn't an anomaly. Cops were seeing more and more 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.200 Lego theft a crime wave, and there were big jobs. 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:51.040 Augustine was small spaghetti compared to some of these, according 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:54.520 to money Wise quote. Just a week before Augustine's arrest, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:58.440 on April eighth, Kern County deputies recovered roughly one million 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:02.440 dollars worth of stolen Lego sets after spotting two Amazon 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:06.680 branded box trucks fleeing a scene in Mojave. Investigators later 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:10.440 located two abandoned freight trailers that had been stolen while 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:14.240 transporting goods from Fort Worth, Texas to Morino Valley, California. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.280 Three Southern California men were booked on cargo theft, possession 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.720 of stolen vehicle, and conspiracy. Charges a million dollars in legos. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:23.760 That's nuts. 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:26.919 I don't think ole Kirk Christensen could have imagined all. No, 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.920 let's take a break when we come back. More Lego crime. 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:56.960 Zaren So, we've had shoplifting and truck chases, but that's 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:01.920 not all. Six months before the Amazon truck heist, Santa Rosa, 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.040 California police served a warrant at a house. Inside was 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:10.399 a Lego movie version of a CSI crime scene. Okay, so, 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:14.080 as money Wise again puts it, quote tens of thousands 0:18:14.119 --> 0:18:20.200 of loose pieces scattered across desks, hundreds of minifigures beheaded 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:25.600 and sorted by facial expression, an open set stacked along 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.520 the hallway walls. Wow, I just like the beheaded figures. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:30.440 That's amazing. 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.840 I mentioned earlier that my sister, her youngest child, got 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:35.680 into legos and then she would have to in to 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.240 buy them on like Amazon or whatever eBay, and she 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.000 realized how valuable they were because just trying to get 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.359 him their exact right one, She's like, forget buying these, 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.399 I'm gonna start selling them. And she makes bank doing this, 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:48.639 and he's like her expert. He's like telling you her, 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:50.240 like you need to get this one and you know 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:52.280 these are the best ones. And then so she figures 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.479 out the market from him and his friends and like 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.280 it's a brilliant, Like I wish I had a head 0:18:57.280 --> 0:18:59.920 for this kind of business, or like the patients to sort. 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:01.760 All the heads and by facial expression. 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:03.560 But that's the thing is, like you get down to 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.480 that where it's like I just am not gonna sit 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.560 there with a magnifying glass on like an extendo arm 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.040 and I'm checking all the faces. I'm like, I can't 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:12.680 do it, no matter how much you can give me 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:14.240 a million dollars. I'm like, I'm passing. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.520 Has made me sort through a bin of minifigures looking 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.840 for specific hair color hair yes, and I'm just like, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.440 we'll just pretend it's this color. 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.959 That's where you and I a line where like purple 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:28.479 as black, as gray, whatever. 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:31.520 It's what you wanted to be. Have some have some imagination. 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.320 So the stuff in this house in Santa Rosa valued 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:35.680 at like six grand. 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:37.160 This like serial killer house. 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:41.520 Cerial color heads everywhere. It was basically lego fencing, and 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:45.280 the ring leader got charged with organized retail theft. And 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.560 there's another one before that, Sarah before they hit Charlotte, 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.639 North Carolina. Okay, And it wasn't a career kerminel He 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.600 was a former Wells Fargo banker, which maybe that means 0:19:55.640 --> 0:20:00.880 he was zing anyway, So the guy fenced more than 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:05.119 one hundred thousand dollars in stolen legos that were gained 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.800 from local Target and Walmart stores, and he was moving 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:11.800 the bricks through an eBay account called Brick by Brick 0:20:11.920 --> 0:20:16.000 b r Ik by brik gotcha. So if you bought 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:20.199 any legos from him, you're sitting on hot bricks. In 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:23.080 two thousand and five, a guy in Reno, Nevada named 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:27.639 William Swanberg stole about two hundred thousand dollars in lego 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:31.040 sets from Target stores across five western states. 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.520 He's a two thousand and five yes, so they did 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.200 not be worth like a million dollars, yes, probably. How 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:37.960 did he do it, Zon Elizabeth. 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.760 He switched the barcodes on the boxes. 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:42.720 How do you switch the He got. 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.119 Pinched, Yeah, he got pinched when he was stopped by 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.439 a Target security guard at a Portland area store. Okay, 0:20:49.560 --> 0:20:52.439 And he just bought ten boxes of the Star Wars 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:55.600 Millennium Falcon set. And at first I thought they were 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:57.680 talking about the giant one that goes for eight hundred 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.720 and fifty dollars on the Lego website. Sure now, and 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:04.560 that set. Those sets get rave reviews on the Lego website. 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:06.840 There are some bad ones. Let me read you a 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.040