Richard Siegel, 71, was arrested this week after police seized more than 2,800 boxes of stolen Lego sets from a house in California. Also collared at the man's home was Blanca Gudino, 39, described by authorities as his accomplice in an unprecedented series of brick heists.
Photos released by Los Angeles Police Department show rooms filled with neatly-organized Lego sets, with dozens of identical products stacked on wire shelves and wherever space allowed. Boxes ranged in value from $20 to "well over $1,000," they said.
A retailer in San Pedro had identified Gudino after being robbed several times last December, and detectives surveilled her raiding other shops in Torrance and Lakewood and taking the hauls to Siegel's home. The assumption is that Siegel was fencing the toys online; he was booked with organized retail theft and her with grand theft.