Thomas Langenbach, a tech executive from Silicon Valley, has been accused of stealing Lego bricks from Bay Area’s Target stores. He was arrested for embezzling Legos worth thousands. According to authorities, he placed fake bar codes on several Lego sets, which he purchased for a discounted price. For instance, after swapping the tags, he purchased a $279 Millennium Falcon Lego box for under $50. When the sets were billed, only Lagenbach’s bar codes, which covered the original bar codes, were picked. After purchasing these sets, he sold them online for big profits. He made close to $30,000 in profits on selling 2,100 sets on eBay.
Langenbach’s Case First of its Kind to Come to Light in Mountain View
According to Liz Wylie, a spokesperson for Mountain View police, such incidents are quite likely happening more often than people think. She stated that despite this, Lagenbach’s is the first case of its kind that the police in Mountain View have come across. A few hours following his arrest on May 9, Lagenbach posted a bail of $10,000. He will have to make an appearance in court Tuesday.
One of the reasons no one caught Langenbach switching the bar codes was because he was using his smartphone scanner for it. When Langenbach moved from one Lego box to another with his smartphone in hand, it did not seem suspicious because many use hand-held devices to find out details like pricing and content.
Langenbach Arrested After Security Footage Revealed Suspicious Behavior
When billing Langenbach’s purchases, employees at Target stores felt that something was out of place. However, they did not do anything till May 8. On that day, Langenbach was recognized by the security at a Target store in Cupertino. He was then put under surveillance. This revealed that Langenbach was covering the store’s codes with his own. As he was about to walk out of the store after billing, security caught Langenbach and handed him over to the police.
Christopher Morales is an experienced San Francisco Criminal Lawyer. If you want a consultation with an expert in San Francisco White Collar Criminal Defense, contact us.
