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LEGO thief receives 13 months in prison
The Oregonian
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
By Holly Danks
HILLSBORO -- A Washington County judge built up a prison sentence for a man who
pleaded guilty in a LEGO theft-and-resale scam.
Under a plea deal, Presiding Judge Thomas W. Kohl on Friday sentenced William
A. Swanberg, 40, of Reno to 13 months in prison instead of the probation set by
sentencing guidelines.
According to police, Swanberg stole about $160,000 in LEGO from Target stores in
five Western states by covering bar codes on expensive sets with tags he
computer-generated from cheaper sets.
Washington County sheriff’s Detective Troy Dolyniuk said Swanberg paid about 20
cents on the dollar and resold the sets at near-retail prices. Since 2002,
Swanberg made $600,000 on Bricklink.com and sold about 1,700 LEGO sets on eBay,
Dolyniuk said.
When Swanberg pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree theft in April, it
was part of a 13-month deal negotiated between his private attorney, Charles
Wiseman, and Jeff Lesowski, Washington County senior district attorney.
Before he could be sentenced on those charges, though, Swanberg pleaded guilty
last week to one count of first-degree theft in Multnomah County and was
sentenced to five years’ probation. He also was ordered to pay a $100,000
compensatory fine to Target.
Swanberg told Kohl he didn’t think he would have to pay anything if he agreed to
go to prison, so he debated withdrawing his plea in Washington County.
He decided to stick with it, however, when Lesowski said he was ready to go to
trial, prove Swanberg guilty of everything and ask for three times the 13-month
sentence.
“This man needs to go to prison,” Lesowski said.
In the meantime, Lesowski said, federal authorities are considering indicting
Swanberg on charges relating to the resale of the toys that will “make
everything we are struggling through today seem like small potatoes.”
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1151978120295270.xml&coll=7
-end of report-
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: LEGO® Bandit gets 13 months in prison
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| (...) Wow, this is really interesting. Many AFOLs could have these resold sets at home, especially if they were resold through eBay. Has there ever been a Lego-related crime on such scale? I don't recall ever seeing one. -Shiri (18 years ago, 9-Jul-06, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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