In a plot that could only be described as half-baked, 28-year-old Jarrelle Augustine of California has been arrested for allegedly swapping valuable Lego figurines for dried pasta pieces and returning the boxes to Target. According to the Irvine Police Department, this pasta-tively terrible plan involved at least 70 thefts across the US, stacking up about $34,000 in losses for the retailer.
Police, who announced the April 14 arrest on Facebook, noted that Target's loss prevention department first got wise in December 2025 when they noticed an open Lego box missing its figurines. Investigators, aware of a robust secondary market for the tiny plastic people, conducted surveillance and determined Augustine was responsible for dozens of phoney returns. The alleged method was simple: buy Lego sets, open them, remove the figurines (and sometimes all the components), replace them with pasta noodles, and return the box.
As Irvine police public information officer Ziggy Azarcon explained, the financial losses stem from Target's inability to resell any of these pasta-filled Legos. Police quipped, "If your master plan involves swapping Legos for linguine, we can promise your plan will be cooked al dente."
This case is part of a spate of recent Lego thefts. In April, authorities seized about $1m in Legos and two stolen freight trailers headed to Riverside county. In March, a Vallejo, California, man was charged for stealing nearly $25,000 from Target using a similar grab-and-go method from August 2024 to February 2025. Last fall, another California man was apprehended for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands in Lego toys to resell at tip-top prices as part of a theft ring.