Detectives with the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team (CODE) Arrested a Bend man for the second time this week for identity theft and theft of legos. According to the latest info from CODE, earlier this week, detectives arrested the same man during an alleged drug sale transaction. During his earlier arrest, detectives located $750 worth of Lego toy sets allegedly stolen from the Bend Target store earlier the same day.
Friday, CODE Detectives were monitoring public social media marketplaces for criminal activity when they noticed the suspect was online and was offering to sell hundreds of dollars worth of new Lego sets at deep discount. Detectives contacted him with an offer to purchase the Legos on display. He and the detective made a deal, and a meeting was arranged to purchase the Lego sets.
Later, the suspect arrived at the Bend Outlet Mall when uniformed Bend Police Officers contacted him while he had the stolen property he agreed to sell to the online detective.
It is alleged the suspect “pre-sells” the Lego sets on social media platforms. Once an interested party contacts him, he allegedly “fulfills the order” by stealing the same Lego set from a local retailer.
During these investigations, CODE Detectives charged the suspect with four additional Bend area thefts totaling more than $3,000 of stolen property.
According to area retail store security officers, Legos are a hot item due to their popularity and relative cost from retail markets. Legos are virtually untraceable, without serial numbers, and quickly sold on the black market or to unsuspecting buyers on social media.
The suspect was jailed with the following criminal charges.
- Theft I, ORS 164.055 (Four Counts)
- Theft II, ORS 164.045 (Three Counts)
- Aggravated Identity Theft, ORS 165.803
- Fraudulent Use of Credit Card, ORS 165.055
