Los Angeles police found over 2,800 boxes of LEGO toys that had been stolen from the home of a 71-year-old man on Wednesday.
The police said in a news release that Richard Siegel and Blanca Gudino, 39, are suspected of stealing toys from stores across California. The toys were worth between $20 and “well over” $1,000 each.
Police say that on June 5, when they served Siegel with a search warrant at his home in Long Beach, “potential buyers of the toys arrived, drawn in by ads Siegel posted on online sales sites.”
The two people were looked into after a store in San Pedro reported a string of thefts to the police in December 2023. Gudino was named as the suspect by the loss prevention staff.
“On June 4, 2024, members of the Los Angeles Police Department observed Gudino steal items from the same retailer in Torrance and Lakewood before providing Siegel with the LEGO toys at his residence in Long Beach,” it says in its press release.
It was charged against Siegel with organized store theft, and it was charged against Gudino with grand theft.
According to jail records that PEOPLE looked at, Siegel was freed on his own recognizance and will be in court on June 26. Gudino is being held on a $20,000 bail right now.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that more than $100,000 worth of LEGO products had been stolen from six Bricks & Minifigs stores across Southern California. Police did not name the store that Siegel and Gudino were reportedly after.
The alleged thieves were named as “two men” who “worked as a team” and went after the LEGO resale shops from April to June.
“We’re a store that caters to people who are looking for a specific Lego set from their childhood. The things we do have are hard to get again.” Big box sets aren’t being stolen. “They’re stealing mini-figures, and those guys sell for $500 to $600 each, so it’s easy to steal them and sell them for a quick profit,” Katie Leuschner, owner of the Bricks & Minifigs store in Whittier, told the news source.
