After at least six businesses that sell collectible Lego products were burglarized in the past two months, shop owners said Monday they believe the same man may have been behind all the recent cases.
Surveillance video from the Bricks and Minifigs location in Whittier captured the early morning burglary from May 3 as a man wearing a headlamp smashed the front glass window and barged into the business with a trash bag in his hands.
Katy Leuschner, the Whitter franchisee, suspected the man knew what he was doing as he stole thousands of dollars’ worth of Lego products within two minutes.
“He knows exactly where the most expensive little minifigs are,” Leuschner said. “He goes straight to those cases and doesn’t waste time.
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Leuschner believes that the burglar may have surveyed the store the day before the crime.
“So frustrating and heartless,” Leuschner said. “What they can do to a family that’s just trying to make it and raise their own family and have this great thing for the community.”
Leuschner said she added a metal gate to the business and installed additional cameras, but there is no such thing as peace of mind when other franchise owners have also been struck.
About 30 miles away from Leuschner’s shop, another Bricks and Minifigs franchise owner in Ontario was targeted in a similar crime.
Shauna Garcia, the Ontario shop owner, said a man came into her business during the early morning of April 12 by breaking in through a window and quickly grabbing the priciest items within minutes.
Security video from Ontario captured that the suspect may have used a blue, electric vehicle as his getaway car.
Garcia, who also owns another store in Corona, said another surveillance video shows a man, who appears to be the same thief, looking in the shop windows Saturday morning.
Other locations that are suspected to be burglarized by the same man – sometimes with an accomplice – include Anaheim, with a total of $100,000 worth of items having been stolen within two months.
“The guts that this guy has,” Leuschner said. “He’s going to get caught and his days are coming.”
