California man allegedly swapped LEGO sets with pasta in nationwide fraud scheme

A sealed LEGO box is supposed to make one sound when you shake it: the rattle of plastic bricks. In Irvine police allegations, that familiar sound was part of the trick, with dry Goya-brand durum wheat semolina pasta standing in for mini figures and other pieces inside high-value sets.

Police identified the suspect as Jarrelle Augustine, 28, of Paramount, California, and said Target reported at least 70 thefts nationwide tied to the same pattern. Authorities estimate the scheme caused about $34,000 in losses. Augustine was arrested on Tuesday, April 15, 2026, after detectives tracked him to a Los Angeles County apartment and booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of grand theft.

The detail that pushed the case from retail theft into internet folklore was the pasta itself. Police say Augustine bought expensive LEGO sets, including Star Wars and Marvel sets, removed the contents, replaced them with dried pasta, resealed the boxes, and returned them for refunds. Investigators said the pasta may have worked because it could mimic the sound and weight of LEGO pieces when the box was shaken.

The alleged returns stretched far beyond Orange County. CBS Los Angeles reported that refunds were obtained at Target locations in Costa Mesa, Irvine, and Westminster, and that police linked the same pattern to stores in Texas, Tennessee, New Jersey, and Florida. NBC Los Angeles said Irvine police described the case with pun-filled social media posts and body-camera and surveillance footage, turning a hard-nosed theft case into a joke with a very specific pantry ingredient at its center.

That specificity is part of why the story spread so quickly. A fraud scheme built around LEGO already has the built-in drama of a collectible toy aisle, but pasta gave it a surreal, unmistakable hook. It is the kind of absurd substitution that people remember immediately: plastic bricks out, dried semolina in. For a hobby world that obsesses over sealed boxes, minifigures, and the exact feel of a kit before opening day, the idea of opening a premium set and finding pasta instead lands with instant, ugly clarity.

The case also fits a larger pattern of LEGO thefts, which have only made the brand look more like a high-value retail target. In June 2024, LAPD recovered more than 2,800 boxes of stolen LEGO toys in a separate bust in Long Beach. In Orange County, though, the alleged prop was not a counterfeit brick or a swapped manual. It was pasta, used as a stand-in with enough weight and sound to fool a return counter until the box was opened.