Seattle police bust lucrative Lego trafficking scheme | Seattle

Seattle police went undercover to break into a smuggling ring that sold expensive stolen goods: Lego stolen from an Amazon store.

Police said they had seized 171 sets and released a picture showing the boxes stacked together.

The accused shopkeeper denied knowingly selling stolen goods, protested the picture and said he would take action against the resulting allegations.

Lego theft and trafficking has become a major problem, according to an expert.

RJ Coughlin, a director at Brickcon, a convention for adult Lego enthusiasts, said the Lego theft from Fox 13 Seattle was “very, very prominent here in the northwest,” in part because sets can fetch $ 800.

“You could go to Fred Meyer and Walmart in many parts of the city, on the outskirts, and you will actually see Lego sets locked up,” said Coughlin.

“You will see shelves that are as good as empty and if you speak to the staff they will tell you that this morning someone literally came, loaded the cart full of Lego, and just left [of] there.”

This summer, the Amazon 4 star, a downtown Seattle store operated by the online retail giant, said it was the target of a repeat shoplifter who stole more than $ 10,000 worth of electronics and Lego sets .

At the same time, Rummage Around, an operator of Pike Place, was selling popular sets based on Star Wars’ The Mandalorian and other franchises. The sets looked suspiciously familiar to an employee of the Amazon store. A guard visited him, saw identification stickers on the sets, and contacted law enforcement officials.

The Seattle Police Department launched an “Operation: MandalOrganized Retail Theft” to investigate the Pike Place seller.

Plainclothes officials visited the store to offer its 67-year-old owner, Mark Brady, tagged goods – specifically a Baby Yoda Lego set. According to police reports, after an undercover agent told Brady that he stole the set from Amazon 4-Star, Brady said he didn’t like the set being tagged but was able to cut off the marker.

The detective, said the police, asked Brady, “What else do you need?”

Brady reportedly replied that he would take “Lego sets – the big ones”.

After weeks of investigation, the police found that Brady was knowingly selling stolen goods. They said Brady directed a “prolific” shoplifter to steal retail stores, and also said that on one occasion the shoplifter sold multiple items to Brady while detectives were at his store. Police said they are still investigating the alleged shoplifting they identified.

Brady has been charged with trafficking in stolen property, an offense that can result in jail time.

Speaking to the Washington Post, Brady denied knowingly selling stolen goods and said other Pike Place business owners created a GoFundMe account to help him keep a lawyer.

“I want to fight it,” he said.

Brady told the Post that he was dissatisfied with the photo of the allegedly stolen sets, which made him appear like a “monster”. He also asked how police could prove which sets were stolen, saying his life had recently been made “miserable” by multiple surgeries and a slowdown in business due to the pandemic.

The police said the investigation was ongoing.