Police in Oregon cracked down on a seemingly innocent local toy store after discovering they were holding hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stolen Legs sets.
Springfield, Oregon police said earlier this week that its Crime Reduction Unit took possession of over 4,100 of the popular brick building sets on July 3 while executing a search warrant at a Eugene, Oregon toy store called Brick Builders.
MASSIVE LEGO THEFT: More than $200k worth of stolen LEGOs found in toy store https://t.co/GrI7HwuyjE pic.twitter.com/w0pHPd6kGV
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) July 11, 2024
The search of Brick Builders occurred as part of an investigation that authorities had been conducting for three months. The Springfield Police Department identified Ammon Henrikson, the owner of Brick Builders, and another individual, Albert Nash, as alleged suspects in the case.
Henrikson is facing accusations from the police that he “knowingly purchased new, unopened sets of Legos that had been stolen from local retail stores” including Target, Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble and Walmart.
The purportedly stolen sets that were seized amounted to over $200,000, said investigators.
Individuals had allegedly “stole[n] hundreds of dollars’ worth of Legos and then immediately went to the Brick Builders store to exchange the stolen items for cash most often at a fraction of their actual retail value” on several different occasions, according to law enforcement.
“We all feel the impact of organized retail theft through the increasing cost of items we buy for our families,” Springfield Police Chief Andrew Shearer was quoted as saying. “SPD is proud of the work of our officers, and we are committed to the pursuit of those behind these crimes in our community.”
Unfortunately, this is part of a growing trend of targeted, organized retail theft and re-sale happening around the country.
In a report released in September 2023, the National Retail Federation (NRF) noted that organized retail crime groups “often target specific items or types of goods.”
Toys were among some of the “most frequently targeted” merchandise, along with footwear, candy, diapers, handbags, underwear, jewelry and cosmetics. Some others are shave products, apparel and certain electronics, the NRF report also said.