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Police track down more than $200,000 in stolen Lego
Police recovered 4,153 stolen Lego sets worth more than $200,000 after a monthslong investigation in Oregon, officials said Tuesday.
Ammon Henrickson, the 47-year-old owner of a store called Brick Builders in Eugene, allegedly knowingly bought new, unopened sets of Lego that had been stolen from other stores, the Springfield Police Department said.
Suspects would steal the sets, then bring them straight to Brick Builders in exchange for cash, police said. Brick Builders staff would buy the stolen sets “most often at a fraction of their actual retail value.”
Investigators said they learned many of the Lego thieves used the cash to buy illegal drugs.
Some pricey sets retail for a whopping $849.99 on the Lego website. Images of the Lego loot shared by police show a huge pile of the toys. Other pictures shared by officials show Lego officers arresting a Lego criminal and a Lego police cruiser.
Authorities said they worked with loss prevention officers from Target, Fred Meyer, Barnes & Noble and Walmart to find the Legos.
“We all feel the impact of organized retail theft through the increasing cost of items we buy for our families. Recognizing this, SPD’s Crime Reduction Unit, with the support of our retail partners, works diligently to hold accountable those who make the choice to engage in or support retail theft,” Chief Andrew Shearer said in a Facebook post.
Henrickson was charged with organized retail theft and theft by receiving. Police also arrested Albert Nash, 57, but did not specify why he was charged. In January, a new law went into effect imposing harsher penalties for those convicted of retail theft, CBS News affiliate KOIN reported.
Police have made several Lego-related busts in recent months. A California task force in April seized about $300,000 worth of stolen Lego sets throughout several raids. Last month, a 71-year-old man was arrested after police found nearly 3,000 boxes of stolen Lego sets at his California home.
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Teacher, student killed in Wisconsin school shooting identified
A teacher and student killed in a shooting earlier this week at a school in Madison, Wisconsin, were identified Wednesday by authorities.
The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a news release provided to CBS News that 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara were fatally shot Monday morning at Abundant Life Christian School.
Preliminary examinations determined the two died of “homicidal firearm related trauma.” Both were pronounced dead at the scene, the medical examiner said.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
The medical examiner also confirmed that a preliminary autopsy found that the suspected shooter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow — a student at the same school — was pronounced dead at a local hospital Monday of “firearm related trauma.” Madison Chief of Police Shon F. Barnes had previously told reporters that Rupnow was pronounced dead while being transported to a hospital.
Police had also previously stated that she was believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting at the private Christian K-12 school was reported just before 11 a.m. Monday. In addition to the two people killed and the shooter, six others were wounded.
Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
A handgun was recovered after the shooting, Barnes said, but it was unclear where the gun came from or how many shots were fired. A law enforcement source said the weapon used in the shooting appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
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contributed to this report.
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Last-minute government funding bill in limbo after opposition from Trump, others
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