{"id":2901,"date":"2026-04-21T00:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2901"},"modified":"2026-04-21T00:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:23:33","slug":"man-arrested-after-allegedly-swapping-lego-sets-with-pasta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=2901","title":{"rendered":"Man Arrested After Allegedly Swapping LEGO Sets With Pasta"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-journey-body=\"standard-article\">\n<div class=\"css-hl6xtf e1wzc3k51\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/clock-regular.4ddebeb.svg\" alt=\"Estimated read time\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><span class=\"css-1rzbsk9 e1wzc3k50\">1 min read<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1jx1kps etlajd3\">\n<div data-theme-key=\"collapsible-section\" class=\"css-p1fz9n e1q3dcg6\">\n<h3 data-theme-key=\"collapsible-header\" class=\"css-1fv4nwp e1q3dcg5\"><button aria-label=\"Hide Key Points section\" aria-expanded=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-header-button\" class=\"css-ec8vqf e1q3dcg4\"><\/p>\n<div data-theme-key=\"collapsible-icon-wrapper\" data-collapsible-open=\"true\" class=\"css-lhm19 e1q3dcg0\"><span data-testid=\"iconRight\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-icon-right\" class=\"css-1ep4808 e1q3dcg1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.delish.com\/_assets\/design-tokens\/fre\/static\/icons\/caret-right-regular.a6ec664.svg\" alt=\"Caret Right\" width=\"100%\" height=\"auto\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/h3>\n<div aria-hidden=\"false\" data-theme-key=\"collapsible-section-text\" class=\"css-nzvxqj e1q3dcg3\">\n<div class=\"css-ex91la etlajd2\">\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>A California man was arrested after allegedly swapping LEGO pieces with pasta and returning the boxes to Target.<\/li>\n<li>Police say the scheme involved about 70 incidents and roughly $34,000 in merchandise.<\/li>\n<li>Investigators believe the suspect used dried pasta to mimic the weight and sound of real LEGO bricks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">This is one of those stories that sounds made up the second you hear it. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">A California man was arrested after allegedly pulling off a <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/lego-pasta-theft-target-arrest\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/lego-pasta-theft-target-arrest\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"bizarre retail\" data-node-id=\"1.1\" class=\"body-link css-8bav6j emevuu60\">bizarre retail<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/lego-pasta-theft-target-arrest\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.foxla.com\/news\/lego-pasta-theft-target-arrest\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"scam\" data-node-id=\"1.2\" class=\"body-link css-8bav6j emevuu60\">scam<\/a> involving LEGO sets, dried pasta, and Target\u2019s return policy. According to police, the scheme involved buying expensive LEGO kits, removing the pieces, replacing them with pasta, and returning the boxes for a refund.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Investigators say the suspect, 28-year-old Jarrelle Augustine, is linked to about 70 incidents nationwide, totaling roughly $34,000 in losses. Authorities allege that Augustine specifically targeted valuable items such as mini-figures and hard-to-find bricks, then used dried pasta to mimic the weight and sound of a full box.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"watch-next\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-22\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<section data-embed=\"instagram\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-23\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">The scheme eventually unraveled after multiple stores flagged suspicious returns. Detectives tracked the pattern, conducted surveillance, and ultimately arrested Augustine on grand theft charges in Orange County, California.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Police didn\u2019t resist the urge to have a little fun when sharing the news. In a statement, they called it a <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/news\/local\/lego-pasta-theft-irvine\/3877358\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.nbclosangeles.com\/news\/local\/lego-pasta-theft-irvine\/3877358\/\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"\u201cpasta-tively terrible plan.\u201d\" data-node-id=\"6.1\" class=\"body-link css-8bav6j emevuu60\">\u201cpasta-tively terrible plan.\u201d<\/a> Online, people were equally read with jokes. One Reddit user called it a <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/legocirclejerk\/comments\/1sp4r3b\/which_one_of_you_guys_did_this\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/legocirclejerk\/comments\/1sp4r3b\/which_one_of_you_guys_did_this\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"\u201cfettuccine felony,\u201d\" data-node-id=\"6.3\" class=\"body-link css-8bav6j emevuu60\">\u201cfettuccine felony,\u201d<\/a> which feels like the only correct response.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">For now, Augustine remains in custody while authorities continue reviewing the full scope of the case. It\u2019s still unclear whether additional charges could be filed in other locations tied to the alleged scheme.<\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"8\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Hopefully, this remains the only story in which \u201cLEGO\u201d and \u201cpasta\u201d are central characters in the same sentence.<\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-24\" data-node-id=\"9\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-u95ltk e94w1mj3\"\/><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 min read A California man was arrested after allegedly swapping LEGO pieces with pasta and returning the boxes to Target. Police say the scheme involved about 70 incidents and roughly $34,000 in merchandise. Investigators believe the suspect used dried pasta to mimic the weight and sound of real LEGO [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}