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Stolen Lego scheme shows danger of ignoring petty crime
Oct. 28, 2021 at 2:28 pm Updated Oct. 28, 2021 at 2:28 pm
Lego sets seized by the Seattle Police Department. (Seattle Police
Department)

By The Seattle Times editorial board
It’s easy to make light of the recent bust of a downtown Seattle Lego
trafficking operation. Even Seattle Police couldn’t resist describing
the investigation as a “brick by brick” disassembly of the criminal
enterprise.

But the arrest of a Pike Place Market retailer accused of stocking store
shelves with stolen building sets is more than an offbeat story. It’s a
cautionary tale about the outgoing city attorney’s failure to hold
repeat criminal offenders accountable. Something’s broken in our justice
system when shoplifters are able to boost enough from downtown
businesses to supply a commercial competitor, even if that store owner
is eventually caught.

So broken, in fact, the thieves often don’t bother trying to hide their
criminal actions. The Amazon 4-star store employee who tipped police off
to the Lego swindle said shoplifters walked off with more than $10,000
worth of store merchandise from the shop on Westlake Avenue between July
and September, according to charging documents. The employee told police
that repeat shoplifters were entering the store daily, sometimes more
than once, and stealing merchandise like Kindle tablets, Lego sets and
Echo Dots “often comfortably enough to not even conceal them during the
commission of the thefts.”

Police investigated after dozens of these stolen items were allegedly
found for sale, with identifying security tags intact, at the Rummage
Around consignment store at the Pike Place Market. The bust led to the
seizure of 171 Lego sets and other merchandise believed to be stolen
goods and arrested store owner Mark Brady, 67, of Burien, on suspicion
of trafficking in stolen property — a felony crime.

Some readers will doubtless see shades of Robin Hood in the tale of
petty criminals siphoning a bit of profit from the trillion-dollar
retail titan. But even leaving aside the ethics, Amazon may be able to
eat the cost of chronic downtown thefts; local small-business owners can’t.

Outgoing City Attorney Pete Holmes’ ineffectual policies were not enough
to deter repeat offenders. As Seattle voters choose between city
attorney candidates Ann Davison and Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, they must
choose the candidate who will set a new direction rather than doubling down.

Davison has vowed to uphold the rule of law while helping those whose
criminal activity is rooted in substance use, mental health or poverty.
As she said in an editorial board interview this summer, “We have to set
limits, because we have to protect everyone in the public.”

Thomas-Kennedy has vowed to further reduce, and eventually abolish
misdemeanor prosecutions entirely, based on the simplistic argument that
they are an unjust attack on people living in poverty. But not every
petty theft is a crime of survival. Not every person in difficult
economic circumstances steals.

Compassion and diversion must be integral parts of a larger strategy to
ensure safety and civility in downtown Seattle. But the city attorney
must be willing to extend that compassion and protection to the victims
of theft and other crime.

The Seattle Times editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate
Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Luis Carrasco, Alex Fryer, Jennifer Hemmingsen,
Mark Higgins, Derrick Nunnally and William K. Blethen (emeritus).