AI recreation by Boing Boing/MidJourney

The theory was that when people shook the box, they heard "LEGO" rather than "penne". The scam worked briefly, but the LEGO bandit is now in custody.

"One of the cases that occurred here in Orange County, they shared that they opened the box and instead of Legos, they found bags of dry pasta," Officer Ziggy Azarcon said.

Investigators said the dry pasta mimics the sound of Legos when they're shaken. Officers said Augustine got refunds at Target locations in Costa Mesa, Irvine and Westminster, as well as different stores out of state.

Earlier this week, Irvine PD tracked Augustine to his Los Angeles County apartment and arrested him.…