He stole Lego pieces, put dried pasta in the box, police say. Shake it, they 'make the same sound' - BERITAJA

Irvine constabulary person arrested a man connected suspicion of stealing Lego pieces by removing them from their boxes and replacing them pinch dried pasta. The man would past allegedly return the boxes to Target for a refund.

The strategy — carried retired successful states crossed the state — added up to $34,000 successful stolen aliases damaged spot from 70 known aliases suspected incidents, according to investigators.

Jarrelle Augustine, 28, faces a complaint of expansive theft and was booked Tuesday astatine the Orange County Jail. He was arrested astatine an flat successful Paramount but is from Texas, said Ziggy Azarcon, nationalist accusation serviceman for the Irvine Police Department.

According to Irvine police, the section became progressive successful December aft Augustine bought and past returned 2 Lego sets — pinch a mixed worth of $350 — from a Target shop successful Irvine. He was connected to different suspicious merchandise returns done in installments paper records. All told, he whitethorn beryllium responsible for about $4,000 successful stolen aliases damaged merchandise from Targets successful Orange County since November, Azarcon said.

Police said Augustine identified Lego sets pinch high-value collectible pieces, bought them and brought them to his residence. Sometimes, he simply removed the valuable pieces, constabulary said. Other times, constabulary said, he swapped retired the full group pinch dried pasta.

If you shingle the Lego boxes pinch the swapped contents, “they fundamentally make the aforesaid sound,” Azarcon said. “Creative — that’s for sure. This is thing that we haven’t seen done before, truthful it was decidedly unsocial for our investigators to beryllium capable to put this together portion by piece.”

At the suspect’s residence, investigators recovered capable contraband Lego pieces to capable 2 garbage bags. Although the alleged heist method was unique, the targeting of Lego is not.

Lego thefts person been recorded crossed the country, galore pinch high-value hauls.

In Charlotte, N.C., a erstwhile Wells Fargo banker was accused of “fencing” hundreds of thousands of dollars of “highly lucrative” Lego products stolen from area Walmart and Target stores.

In that case, a assemblage recovered Ryan Thomas Cahill blameworthy successful November 2025 of felony receiving aliases possessing unit spot obtained by organized unit theft exceeding $100,000, according to published reports.

In 2024, Los Angeles constabulary announced they’d uncovered a Lego theft ring. Officers arrested 2 group and seized much than 2,800 boxes of Lego toys stockpiled successful a Long Beach home. Individual boxes varied successful worth from $20 to much than $1,000.

While the officers were conducting their investigation astatine the suspect’s home, “potential buyers of the toys arrived, lured by s placed ... connected net income sites,” constabulary said.

Around that aforesaid time, investigators were trying to unravel a perchance unrelated section smash-and-grab theft ring targeting Lego toys. Suspects cased stores, then, aft closing time, smashed windows and headed consecutive to the highest-value Lego sets.

Other caller cases unfolded successful San José; Santa Rosa; Mojave; Albuquerque, N.M.; and Eugene, Ore. The Oregon case allegedly progressive purchases of Lego sets stolen from various merchants that were to beryllium resold astatine a different store. More than 4,000 sets were recovered, constabulary said.

High-value pieces aliases mini-figures see those associated pinch themed characters aliases superheroes. Examples see pieces related to Marvel, “Star Wars” aliases Harry Potter.

As for the latest arrest, it’s not clear what Augustine mightiness person been doing pinch the pieces, but there’s nary denotation he was utilizing them for imaginative play connected his surviving room floor.

“We don’t cognize precisely what he was doing, but we cognize location is simply a secondary marketplace to beryllium capable to waste these collectible figures,” Azarcon said.