CA Asst. Store Manager Caught Stealing Sets

[DoNotInsertIntoMouth]

Some stores may not even take inventory, until they surprisingly notice $50,000 of merch missing.

 

Yeah it would take a decent amount of my stuff to be gone for me to notice.

[Migration]

Some stores may not even take inventory, until they surprisingly notice $50,000 of merch missing.

They have to take inventory at least once a year.

[California92563]

I remember her helping me one time too- she dropped a GE I bought while trying to put it in the bag and dented the corner.

Did you still buy it? Lol

[Mos_Eisley]

Did you still buy it? Lol

She likely told him he needed an undamaged set and took the dented one out to her car.

[California92563]

She likely told him he needed an undamaged set and took the dented one out to her car.

Lmfao so that's how she did it

[legodelorean]

I was not claiming she was bright or a master thief, just addressing the question as to how she could have easily removed the sets from the store.

I know, and I was just elaborating on your statement. I probably shouldn't have quoted your response.

[kishidan69]

Surely you jest.

 

Maybe the biggest (though Barbie isn't giving up the tiara without a fight, I'm sure) target for thievin', but by no means the only. Selling stolen goods is a fact of life from lipstick to Lionel trains to luggage tags to Purina Lion Chow.

Ah, should have worded it better. What I was trying to say was, Lego seems to be the one toy (or at least occasionally reported in the media) where there are instances of criminals dealing "exclusively" in it, or getting involved with selling stolen or fraudulently obtained goods because of Lego. I recall the cases of the Silicon Valley exec who was printing fake product barcodes and applying them to more expensive Lego sets at his Target before buying them for cheaper prices, and over here in Australia a couple of months ago, a group of professional burglars who reportedly had all the tools and know-how, but targeted suburban toy stores to steal Lego and nothing else. It's almost like a scenario where they have seen the potential of Lego raking in the profits, and regardless of whether they're thieving pros or have been reasonably law-abiding before their criminal activities, said to themselves "Alright, we're gonna 'deal' exclusively in Lego and milk this thing dry"

 

Maybe in the not too distant future, police departments will start having a dedicated Lego crime task force a.k.a. the Brick Unit! Intimate knowledge of current street value of most Lego sets is a joining pre-requisite.

[justafrog]

rofl - I love it, The Brick Unit. Definitely also needs to be a TV cop show.

[newbie77]

William worked at the Legos Store in the Glendale Galleria and admitted to stealing 254 boxes of the popular toy in the past 18 months, police said.

 

 

 

also that's the number of sets she admitted to stealing. who knows how much she actually stole either way thats a lot of sets to go missing without being caught. she was smart it took them 18 months...

[TheDarkness]

Wait til Bad Cop finds out!

[j.hermit]

justafrog-  Although I haven't done this myself (or at least I'm not admitting to it...), but here's how it almost always goes down.   

 

Most stores have lots of cameras watching the sales floor, but few (or none) in the stockroom.  Get somewhere that a camera can't see you, and toss a box in a trash can.  Run your trash out to the dumpster, retrieve at end of shift.  This fine young lady was probably walking out with a box every shift by the end.

 

And yes, it's gonna be a while before you get noticed.  Corporate managers might start to notice that the store's not selling enough for what they're receiving, but it probably won't get much attention until everything gets inventoried- usually once or twice a year.  After that begins the slow process of having Loss Prevention shuffle in and do their official thing.  Usually, it's not long before the source of the problem is obvious, then it's a matter of waiting around until the thief gets overconfident and nabs something while LP has their eyes on them.  It's easy to do this stuff without leaving a paper trail (corporate only knows that stuff is missing, not when or how it went missing), so the company usually has to catch someone in the act to prove it.

 

Most stores these days actually lose more to internal theft than to shoplifting.  Most people start out justifying it by telling themselves they're overworked and underappreciated, so it's okay to nab something because they "deserve" it.

[superbrickman]

I'm not surprised at this at all. 

 

There were times in the last 2-3 years I'd call the Glendale store to hold an item that was on clearance at LEGO Shop at Home, and while someone who took my call first was assisting me with the hold, someone else who was more managerial would immediately come on the line and tell me they just had one and JUST sold it to someone in the store. The odds of that happening multiple times on weekday mornings over multiple months for bigger sets is anyone's guess. 

 

I also wouldn't rule out mischief at the other L.A. store in Westfield Topanga. Their manager is very bitchy. On the one hand, she has repeatedly refused to hold for me even a single set at a time (either Lego Store is an hour drive for me, so going to one requires a fair amount of time, effort, and gas), and on the other hand, I've personally seen her go in the back and come out with several boxes for others (like 10+ of the same set, the chess set last year during the holidays).

 

I don't get how it works, and I've stopped caring much since I just buy from elsewhere now (I'm just a small potato anyway, usually buy only two of what I like, one for myself), but it's clearly unfair and I hope LEGO continues to investigate the @#*( out of these unethical idiots.

[njseale]

If she stole that much it means the store had a very incompetent manager. That type of theft is very easy to figure out in that type of situation

[speedsausage]

254 sets in 18 months! Geez that's a minimum of 3 sets a week straight. That girl has some balls!!

[chinothegeeko]

It's all gonna be locked up sooner or later where only the manager has the key to sell these items. Or not. 

 

Good story.

[Sparkesy43]

Maybe in the not too distant future, police departments will start having a dedicated Lego crime task force a.k.a. the Brick Unit! Intimate knowledge of current street value of most Lego sets is a joining pre-requisite.

Do we finally have an insight into why there are so many Police themed Lego sets???

[Achilles]

Honestly, stories like this and the other guy who was slapping fake barcodes on the boxes in Targets in Cali (What is it with you west coasters?) are annoying in that they tip off even more people to the value/lucrative nature of LEGO. Ironically, I bet this will result in MORE LEGO related crime.

 

Stop covering these stories, media! Just let the police arrest the people and hush up

[Neosphinx]

Honestly, stories like this and the other guy who was slapping fake barcodes on the boxes in Targets in Cali (What is it with you west coasters?) are annoying in that they tip off even more people to the value/lucrative nature of LEGO. Ironically, I bet this will result in MORE LEGO related crime.

 

Stop covering these stories, media! Just let the police arrest the people and hush up

 

I don't see that as a problem.It is true that it causes for more investors, but that is a good thing for people that have already invested alot before as more demand > more $$$. And with the growing middle class in China and India, why worry? They like playing and collecting Lego too.