Fresno police arrest man in Target LEGO thefts, recover 800 toys

Fresno police arrested Anthony W. Haddad, 40, after detectives tied him to a string of LEGO thefts at Target stores in Fresno and Clovis and recovered more than 800 collectible toys from his home, police said. The seized toys were valued at more than $5,000.

The case landed with the Fresno Police Department’s Northeast District Organized Retail Theft detectives after Target loss-prevention employees reported the thefts. Investigators reviewed surveillance video and say it showed Haddad taking a large LEGO set along with a smaller, lower-cost toy, then scanning only the cheaper item at self-checkout before leaving with both products.

Police served a search warrant at Haddad’s home and found the cache of collectible toys there. Investigators said the recovered property would be inventoried and returned to Target. Haddad was booked on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property.

The arrest puts a local face on a broader retail theft problem that has already reached other Central Valley counties. In Kern County, three men were charged in April in a separate case involving an estimated $1 million in stolen Legos, underscoring how high-demand toys have become a target for organized theft crews moving through regional stores.

For Fresno and Clovis shoppers, the impact shows up first on the sales floor. When retailers see repeated thefts of the same high-value products, they often respond with tighter controls, smaller shelf inventories and more scrutiny at checkout, changes that can slow down routine shopping and raise operating costs for stores already dealing with shrink.

Police said the investigation remains active as detectives continue sorting through the recovered items and the Target thefts that prompted the case. The arrest closed one chapter in the probe, but the scale of the haul suggests the thefts were more than a one-off shoplifting incident.