LEGO DINGUS Busted Replacing Pieces With Pasta, Police Say.
Everything is not awesome for a California man accused of pulling off a very weird retail scam involving LEGO sets and dried pasta.
According to the Irvine Police Department, 28-year-old Jarrelle Augustine of Paramount was arrested after allegedly stealing valuable LEGO mini-figures and other pieces from boxed sets, replacing them with pasta, and returning the boxes to Target stores.
Police say Augustine carried out the scheme at least 70 times.
Investigators allege that he bought LEGO sets from Target stores, removed the mini-figures and other key pieces, then replaced them with dried durum wheat semolina pasta before returning the sets.
Authorities say the thefts resulted in approximately $34,000 in losses nationwide.
Some of the stolen pieces reportedly came from Star Wars LEGO sets.
In a social media post, Irvine police described the operation as a “pasta-tively terrible plan” and called it a “LEGOs for linguine” scheme. The department also shared surveillance footage showing Augustine shopping for LEGO sets, along with body camera footage from his arrest.
Police also released photos showing bags of Goya-brand pasta they say were used in the swaps, as well as the recovered stolen LEGO figures.
According to investigators, Irvine detectives conducted surveillance, identified Augustine, and arrested him Tuesday.
He was booked into Orange County Jail on a charge of grand theft.
In one final jab, Irvine police summed it up this way: if your master plan involves swapping LEGOs for linguine, your plan is probably going to get cooked.
