Silicon Valley tech exec convicted of Lego thefts

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- A former Silicon Valley software executive has been convicted of burglary for cheating Target stores out of Lego collectors' sets.

Thomas Langenbach pleaded no contest to one count of felony commercial burglary, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Duffy Magilligan said.

Under the plea deal reached Monday, prosecutors agreed to drop three other counts.

Langenbach was accused of putting fake bar codes on Lego sets at Target stores, buying the toys at a steep discount, then selling them online for thousands of dollars.

When police searched his posh home in San Carlos, they found hundreds of unopened Lego sets. They said the house was also filled with Lego creations Langenbach had built himself.

Magilligan said Langenbach swapped the barcodes on seven sets, costing Target a loss of $345.

Defense attorney Geoffrey Carr told the San Jose Mercury News his client was not motivated to make money but to experiment with software his Palo Alto company, SAP Labs, had created.

"It was just a guy doing something dorky and for not a lot of money," Carr said. He added that Lagenbach was fired from his executive job at SAP Labs shortly after he was arrested.

Langenbach faces one month in jail, five months of home detention and three years of probation when he is sentenced in September.

Carr said Lagenbach took the plea deal to avoid potentially being deported to his home country of Germany if convicted of two felonies.

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