Four Arrested After $200k Worth of Legos Found in Theft Investigation
Aw, shucks. What's four adults gotta do around here to have a little Lego fun?
AZFamily.com reports police in Phoenix, Arizona have arrested four chill dudes—Garry Fairbee, 35; Tarah Dailey, 33; Melissa Dailey, 34; and Troy Koehler, 40—accused of hatching and carrying out a massive scheme to steal pricey Lego sets from local Toys "R" Us stores. "To play with?" you're probably wondering. No! To joylessly resell, for profit.
They are accused of removing the theft detection devices from the Lego sets, causing damage to the packaging. In most incidents, they put the Lego sets in either large gift bags and then in shopping carts, or inside shopping carts and then covered with the gift bags. The suspects would then flee the business without setting off the security alarm.
Police had reportedly been working on the case for more than four months when detectives used surveillance video to identify Fairbee and Tarah Dailey. They discovered the pair was selling the stolen Lego sets to Troy Koehler, who would then either sell the sets online, or return them to Toys "R" Us stores for a refund.
The group was caught in action on Thursday night when police followed Fairbee and Melissa Dailey to a meeting place where they sold stolen Legos to Koehler. AZFamily reports that after obtaining search warrants on the residences of Fairbee and Koehler, as well as Koehler's storage lockers, approximately 18 pallets of Legos were recovered:
It is estimated that the recovered Legos have a retail value of around $200,000 of which at least $40,000 is believed to have been stolen. The rest of the Legos may have been purchased legitimately, or obtained fraudulently. Evidence from this investigation shows only $40,000 in stolen merchandise.
AZFamily reports the schemers are facing charges of "organized retail theft, trafficking in stolen property, fraudulent schemes, and illegal control of an enterprise."
Hmm. But who will play them in The Lego Movie: Not the Fun One, the One About the Weird, Complicated Scheme?
