SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KETK) – A second woman has been arrested in connection to a multi-state Lego theft ring that allegedly stole more than $400,000 worth of products from stores throughout the United States and in East Texas.
Erica Johnson, who’s listed as co-conspirator in an arrest document for alleged members of the ring, was arrested by the Smith County Sheriff’s on Wednesday. Her arrest follows the Jan. 9 arrest of alleged co-conspirator Semetric Danielle Baker of Burnet, Texas.
Baker and two others were arrested for alleged thefts from several Walmart and Target stores in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Florida and Texas, including stores in Longview, Tyler, Kilgore and Gun Barrel City.
Brian Fleming was arrested on Dec. 6 and Shane Joel Gentry was arrested on Nov. 21. Gentry would reportedly sell items on eBay and Amazon and, according to an arrest record, he showed Amazon an invoice for the items from Fleming.
Fleming and another man were reportedly seen on video in a Walmart’s Lego aisle before they left that aisle and bought several low cost items from a different aisle, an arrest affidavit for Fleming said.
When Fleming left these stores, other members of the ring, including Johnson and Baker, would come in and pick out the same number of items that Fleming had bought but from the Lego aisle.
Their receipts would reportedly be altered to list the Legos with their correct prices even though the SKU number listed was still for the original low-cost items purchased by Fleming.
An arrest affidavit for Fleming shows that more than $400,000 worth of Legos and other products were stolen by the ring in this manner.
Johnson was booked into the Smith County Jail on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and theft of property greater than $300,000.
