Lego Pasta Scammer Caught

0:00It's April 17th. This is California News Today, AI-powered stories from your city. Irvine Police just nabbed a 28-year-old guy named Jarell Augustine for swiping over $34,000 in high-end LEGO sets. He targeted pricey star wars and Marvel kits, swapped out the bricks for dry pasta, resealed the boxes, and returned them for full refunds. The trick worked because the pasta rattle just like LEGOs when shaken, fooling store clerks at target spots in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Westminster, plus locations out of state. Folks at the stores were stunned when they finally cracked open those boxes and found elbow macaroni instead of bricks. These sets fetched big bucks on the resale market, so the scam hit hard. Earlier this week, cops tracked into his apartment in Los Angeles County, arrested him on the spot and hauled away stacks of LEGOs sorted in. Display bins along with 15 bags of that pasta. Nothing matched the stolen goods.

1:00Investigators now tie him to dozens more cases across Texas, Tennessee, New Jersey, and Florida. So this LEGO pasta caper might still have legs as. They dig deeper.