The last few months have seen a string of Lego-related crimes across Southern California.

In April, days after the Bricks & Minifigs burglaries began, the California Highway Patrol arrested four suspects after officers found them in possession of stolen Legos worth $300,000. They’d allegedly taken sets from retailers including Target and stored the goods at stash houses in L.A. and Orange counties. Then, in early June, the Los Angeles Police Department announced it’d broken up another alleged Lego theft ring, arresting two people and seizing nearly 3,000 boxes of Legos kept at a property in Long Beach.

Authorities have not linked those crimes to the Bricks & Minifigs heists.

Pilfered items are routinely offered on internet sales platforms including EBay and Facebook Marketplace, according to Lego dealers and other experts. That means that hobbyists have to rely on their own judgment — and ethics — when conducting business online.

Veteran Lego dealer James Burrows said red flags include sellers who “have a tremendous amount of something and they are not a collector.”

Burrows said that BrickLink, which boasts more than 18,000 sellers, including nearly 6,000 in the U.S., is a safer place to buy and sell than the mainstream online marketplaces. The site gives members the ability to report concerning behavior or activity to the website’s administrators.

Lego Group, of course, is aware of the illicit sale of its toys. A company spokesperson directed The Times to an online resource that outlines how consumers can spot fake online Lego stores, among other issues.

Tracking down stolen Legos online is a tall order. Shauna Garcia, owner of the Bricks & Minifigs Ontario store, which lost about 500 mini-figures worth nearly $7,000 in an April heist, said that she’s been looking for her items on Facebook Marketplace but hasn’t spotted any. “They’re not being sold there in a super obvious way,” she said. “I’m keeping an eye out for lots and lots of minis.”

Weeks after her store was burgled, Leuschner had a strange interaction with a man offering her thousands of Legos “at a very low price.” The would-be seller, she said, was Richard Siegel, one of the people who, according to police, allegedly operated the theft ring that stored more than 2,800 ill-gotten Legos in Long Beach.

Reached by telephone, Siegel, 71, told The Times that he “for sure” wasn’t guilty, declining to comment further.

Burrows, who is based in Florida, said that he routinely deals with suspect sellers at the Brick University, his brick-and-mortar store.

“People will show up, and it is the usually the same story: ‘Oh , my boss closed their comic store and paid me with Legos,’” he said. “Or, ‘My kid got extras of these [for a] birthday.’”

Burrows spoke to The Times while en route to Brickworld, a Lego fan convention held in Chicago. He said that items stolen in L.A. could have wound up at the expo and been sold to unsuspecting attendees.

“They could easily be unloaded,” he said. Vendors “will have all these high-end figures, and they will give you a good story and an amazing deal.”

Opening amid a crime wave

By the time Rob and Betty Poquez opened their Bricks & Minifigs franchise in Pasadena on May 4, three of their sister stores had been burgled. That prompted the Poquezes to make some changes.

The crime “informed a lot of the decision-making for our store,” Rob Poquez said.

He said that they reconsidered everything, including their end-of-day procedures and how the space would be staged. Valuable “Star Wars” sets and mini-figures are housed in a glass case at the rear of the store. It recently displayed a Republic Cruiser with mini-figures (price: $350) and a Republic Gunship with mini-figures ($600).

The Poquezes are also wary of people trying to sell them stolen goods. So far, they’ve not had a transaction that “felt uncomfortable,” Rob Poquez said. “We get a lot of kids with families.” And, owing to a rule set by Lego, Bricks & Minifigs operators are not allowed to buy new, currently-in-production sets from consumers, Betty Poquez said, which “helps us avoid stolen goods.”

On a recent afternoon, a preteen boy stood in front of a large bulk bin at the center of the couple’s store and surveyed his options. The Legos plinked as he sifted through mounds of blocks under the gaze of at least five wall-mounted security cameras.

A small container at the edge of the bin was labeled “WALL OF SHAME” — this was where customers put any non-Lego pieces found during their rummaging. A sign explained the bulk pricing, starting at $8 to fill a small tub.

This version of the hobby seemed far removed from the world of AFOLs and $1,000 mini-figures — and the sort of crime that had been visited upon the other local branches of Bricks & Minifigs.

The boy’s father leaned in to explain how the bulk bin let him get a bunch of Legos on the cheap.

“This,” he told his son, “is an opportunity.”

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