A Massachusetts man has pleaded guilty to stealing $600,000 worth of Legos, books, and other products, and faces up to 10 years in prison for the theft.
John Strang of Burlington was accused of shoplifting from stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire between 2007 and this year. He then sold the items at 40 to 50 percent off the retail price on Half.com and shipped them across the United States.
The 67-year-old pleaded guilty in US District Court Tuesday and was charged with interstate transportation of stolen property. His sentencing is scheduled for October 15.
In other Lego news, a St. Louis occupational therapist who had her leg amputated below the knee built herself a working prosthetic leg using just the colorful building bricks. Christina Stephens had to have her leg amputated after her foot got crushed while she was working on her car. She created a Facebook page and YouTube channel called “Amputee OT” as a resource for amputees and caregivers.
Stephens said someone in her research lab challenged her to make the prosthetic.
“The joke’s on you – I went home and did it,” she wrote in the video’s description. The leg was completely functional, although the “foot” did break off at one point. Stephens just reattached it and kept walking.
In March, a Legos spill forced a West Virginia highway to be closed down for hours while workers cleaned up the pieces. A woman named Tiffany Lantz wrote on Facebook that the Legos were her son’s. She said they were in tote bags tied to the top of their car when the straps broke, causing them to spill all over the highway. Lantz said she tried to recover as many of the Lego pieces as possible because she couldn’t afford to buy him anymore. Other people on Facebook offered to send her son their Lego pieces.