Playtime Perp Popped by PB's Pete Palenzuela

A story about 37-year-old Anthony Ricca, who shoplifted and then sold Star Wars LEGO on eBay, contains this hilariously literal quote.

"There is apparently some type of nostalgic or intrinsic value for these Star Wars Legos products, where individuals that are fans of Star Wars end up bidding for these products and buying them on Ebay," Pete Palenzuela with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office told WPBF News 25.

Apparently items for sale have intrinsic value!

Ricca had shoplifted over $42k in LEGO and sold them through his eBay store. Considering that he claimed to have only stolen $150 worth of sets a week, he must have been doing it for ages.

Police: Man Stole, Sold $42K In Legos Star Wars Items On Ebay [WPBF.com]

[#1 posted by Brian Carnell , February 26, 2008 10:40 AM]

Um, I'm pretty sure that Legos have only extrinsic value, especially Star Wars Lego which generally only have value in relationship to your attachment to Star Wars and Legos (or, to use the cop's analogy, to they have value to the extent you are nostalgic about any number of things).

[#2 posted by Joel Johnson , February 26, 2008 11:48 AM]

Well, they have value as little bits of plastic. But you're right, I suppose.

My point: I had to look up the word "extrinsic."

[#3 posted by Vibrissae , February 26, 2008 4:56 PM]

"who shoplifted and then stole Star Wars LEGO on Ebay"

Should that be "shoplifted and then sold"?

[#4 posted by Fnarf , February 26, 2008 5:19 PM]

Ebay is the world's most comprehensive fencing operation, with the advantage that a huge portion of the goods sold there don't even exist, and are being "sold" through compromised accounts; indeed, through the magic of bogus "second chance" offers, most of them aren't even sold through Ebay (I now receive three or four of these for every bid I make on Ebay, often before the auction even ends).

[#5 posted by Comedian , February 27, 2008 1:06 PM]

Similar to , but quite a bit smaller in operation than Bill Swanberg aka Franklin Duffy, the nefarious Lego Bandit!

(Two of my blog posts on the original Lego Bandit.)

[#6 posted by LightningCrash , February 28, 2008 5:31 AM]

>> Anthony Ricca, who shoplifted and then stole Star Wars LEGO on eBay,

editing? seriously.

[#7 posted by Joel Johnson , February 28, 2008 5:39 AM]

I love it when people criticize mistakes using poor grammar. Nevertheless, I've fixed it, you twerp.

[#8 posted by LightningCrash , February 28, 2008 12:02 PM]

I love it when people use argumentum ad personam.

[#9 posted by dculberson , February 28, 2008 12:34 PM]

Meanie. Plbbt!