The California Highway Patrol recovered more than $300,000 worth of stolen Lego toys, and arrested four people, authorities announced.
On Tuesday, April 9, investigators with the CHP Organized Retail Crime Task Force arrested three women and one man after serving search warrants at four places in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, the CHP announced this week.
Investigators learned that the four people stole merchandise including Legos from various retail stores, and delivered the stolen products to “fences” — locations where stolen goods are sold.
Fences, according to the CHP, will often sell the stolen merchandise at swap meets, businesses or through online retailers. Buyers often don’t know that the products they purchased were stolen.
The stores that were hit are still calculating the total losses from the stolen merchandise, but it is estimated to be at least $300,000. It wasn’t immediately known which stories in which cities the Legos were stolen from.
The four suspects, who are residents of Orange, Huntington Beach, Studio City and Brea, were booked for charges related to organized retail theft, grand theft and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The CHP Organized Retail Crime Task Force arrested more than 1,000 people in 2023 and recovered over 180,000 stolen items, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
