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San Diego cops bust major Lego theft ring, $100K worth of toys stolen

SAN DIEGO - San Diego police made a major bust on Tuesday -- taking down an organized crime ring that was stealing Legos, Disney "Frozen" items and other merchandise from local toy stores.

And we're not talking about just petty shoplifting.

Detectives say there were five people in the ring and they hit five San Diego-area Toys R Us stores at least 30 times, sometimes more than once in the same day.

Surveillance video shows them walking right out of stores with shopping carts full of toys. All told, they made off with $100,000 worth of merchandise.

Three of the suspects have been arrested, a fourth is already in custody on an unrelated charge and the fifth suspect is on the run.

Damn, some more members leaving the site.

How nice of you to blame your members. :-)

​Regular employees are told not to pursue thieves. There's too much liability if they get hurt. I pointed out someone dashing out into the parking lot and loading their car with stolen goods and just received a shrug and a "there's nothing we can do."

​It's only a matter of time before most big stores do what Costco does - have someone stop and check your receipt before being allowed to leave the store in addition to other measures in the stores like spider webs, empty boxes, and locked displays.

​It's only a matter of time before most big stores do what Costco does - have someone stop and check your receipt before being allowed to leave the store in addition to other measures in the stores like spider webs, empty boxes, and locked displays.

They don't check for the validity of your receipt vs items. Maybe large items. Psychologically the odds of me stealing from you with no one at the door then some old lady is a lot less. It's a numbers game in decreasing the statistics. Theft will happen, just how much?

How nice of you to blame your members. :-)

​Hey! For all you know he might be the one still on the run, so show a little bit more sympathy! ;-P

Still... stealing LEGO probably is not the smartest idea to get money... at least not if it is done so obviously... and you still have to sell that stuff afterwards!

​Hey! For all you know he might be the one still on the run, so show a little bit more sympathy! ;-P

Still... stealing LEGO probably is not the smartest idea to get money... at least not if it is done so obviously... and you still have to sell that stuff afterwards!

You mean I can steal things that don't require more work after I obtain them? Tell me more...

They don't check for the validity of your receipt vs items. Maybe large items. Psychologically the odds of me stealing from you with no one at the door then some old lady is a lot less. It's a numbers game in decreasing the statistics. Theft will happen, just how much?

​If you looked at hundreds of receipts, eventually over time you could probably quickly assess the total value on the receipt vs the items in the cart. Also, if you had a receipt with 4 things (and no receipt) and had 40 in your cart, it would be pretty obvious something was amiss.

The only problem I have with what Costco does is that people watching the door should have more backup than a sharpie in case something does happen..

They just need a hulk. Honestly I don't think grandma is going to run me down with my cart of dawn dish soap and altoids. She probably can't even see the numbers on her jitterbug. It's fool proof.

​It's only a matter of time before most big stores do what Costco does - have someone stop and check your receipt before being allowed to leave the store in addition to other measures in the stores like spider webs, empty boxes, and locked displays.

​Regular stores can't force you to check your receipt.  You're free to decline, and they can't stop you.

However, if you're signed up with a store that requires membership (like Costco), it's usually in your member agreement that you agree to show your receipt.

Edited June 11, 201510 yr by Alpinemaps
Changed "can" to "can't"

​Regular stores can force you to check your receipt.  You're free to decline, and they can't stop you.

However, if you're signed up with a store that requires membership (like Costco), it's usually in your member agreement that you agree to show your receipt.

Yep, I blow past wal mart greeters all the time, annoys them to no end.

You mean I can steal things that don't require more work after I obtain them? Tell me more...

​There are things you can steal that require less effort afterwards yes.

Or you just start out stealing money directly! That's what the banks and the goverments are doing, seems to work pretty good.

Just to dig this back up again.  Looking over the San Diego CL ads over the last week or so, certain ads have definitely dropped off.  They were ads from people that I suspected might be involved, so I'm not really surprised.

Didn't want to star a new thread, but hey we know that guy:

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=139058&ec=1

Didn't want to star a new thread, but hey we know that guy:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=139058&ec=1

Hope he wasn’t a source for anyone here.

I think most of the people I sell to on CL think I have stolen the item. The latest example was Assembly Square. I've sold four locally and all have asked where I bought it from and why I was selling it for 25% off retail.

1 hour ago, iahawks550 said:

I think most of the people I sell to on CL think I have stolen the item. The latest example was Assembly Square. I've sold four locally and all have asked where I bought it from and why I was selling it for 25% off retail.

25% off retail?? I would question you too.

1 hour ago, lobo1969 said:

25% off retail?? I would question you too.

Um, yeah.  I'm not even sure I would follow up withe the sale in the first place.

13 minutes ago, exracer327 said:

Um, yeah.  I'm not even sure I would follow up withe the sale in the first place.

I don't follow.

5 hours ago, iahawks550 said:

I don't follow.

They're saying that they are suspicious of your price on such a high-end item. I would assume that you snagged them during Target's pricing error a couple of weeks ago, which is why you were able to sell them for cheap. 

People still steal? There are cameras everywhere (I even have one on my porch, recording 24/7). If you steal something, the act is on camera.

17 minutes ago, Jackson said:

People still steal? There are cameras everywhere (I even have one on my porch, recording 24/7). If you steal something, the act is on camera.

People will continue to steal regardless of cameras. The self-checkout lanes are a prefect example. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/stealing-from-self-checkout/550940/

42 minutes ago, Jackson said:

People still steal? There are cameras everywhere (I even have one on my porch, recording 24/7). If you steal something, the act is on camera.

they got masks for that. 

7 hours ago, Jackson said:

People still steal? There are cameras everywhere (I even have one on my porch, recording 24/7). If you steal something, the act is on camera.

I’ve anecdotally noticed one thing about the ubiquity of porch cameras. More angry posts on facebook from camera owners with a video with the caption “this low life stole my packages from my porch!”

We have cameras at work. It is always the guy wearing the hoodie that did it.

On 4/28/2018 at 8:27 AM, iahawks550 said:

I think most of the people I sell to on CL think I have stolen the item. The latest example was Assembly Square. I've sold four locally and all have asked where I bought it from and why I was selling it for 25% off retail.

And yet they don't seem to have a problem with buying it from you at said price... 

Of course, they could just be looking to get similar deals for themselves without you as the middleman. 

On 4/28/2018 at 6:44 PM, BambinoBricks said:

They're saying that they are suspicious of your price on such a high-end item. I would assume that you snagged them during Target's pricing error a couple of weeks ago, which is why you were able to sell them for cheap. 

Right.  If I didn't know about that pricing error and that such a good deal was to have been had, I would be suspicious.  That was all my point was.  It's like if you price it too low, that age old adage becomes true, "If it seems like too good to be true, it usually is."