The barcode bandit: Silicon Valley SAP executive accused of Lego thefts
You see a lot of strange things in Silicon Valley…. 
I’ve often wondered about some of the executives there…. 😉
Thomas Langenbach, a top Silicon Valley executive with the global software company SAP (55,000 employees, worldwide), will be arraigned on Tuesday on four felony counts of burglary in Santa Clara County court. Langenbach has been with SAP (Systems, Applications, and Products) since 1988. According to the outgoing message on his voicemail, recorded in a thick German accent, Langenbach is part of the Integration and Certification Center. Langenbach is the alleged thief in the repeated theft of Lego toys from Target stores on Stevens Creek Boulevard in Cupertino and on Showers Drive in Mountain View. Langenbach allegedly brought his own barcode stickers to the stores and used them to cover up the real stickers, and then he allegedly purchased the Legos at STEEP discounts! 😉
For those who have been living under a rock since the invention of Lego toys in 1949, The Mercury News provides the following description of Legos:
Lego is the brand name of an internationally popular line of colorful, interlocking, plastic bricks dating back to 1949. Coming in many sizes, they can be used to build scale models of vehicles, aircraft, buildings, and even working robotic figures. The bricks can be purchased in bunches or as parts of specialized sets. Anything constructed can be easily taken apart and the pieces can be used for countless other projects. The toys have spawned clothing lines, theme parks, retail stores and thousands of worldwide building clubs populated by children and adults.
The case was solved by Target security, who then turned the alleged barcode bandit over to the police. According to police, Langenbach was observed buying two Lego items at reduced prices on April 20, after which he traveled to the Mountain View Target and bought two more Lego sets at a savings of $170. Target issued fliers with Langenbach’s photo to their security folks, even though his identity was unknown at the time.
On May 8, a loss-prevention officer recognized Langenbach from the circulated photo and placed him under surveillance.According to the police, Langenbach put new barcode stickers on three boxes of Legos, checked the “new, reduced prices” on the stores barcode scanner, put two boxes back on the shelf, and was nabbed when he walked out with the one box for which he had not paid full price.
After obtaining a search warrant, police in Mountain View discovered a huge collection of Legos at Langenbach’s $2 million San Carlos home, along with eight Ziploc bags with dozens of barcode stickers in his car.
“In his house, we found hundreds of boxes of unopened Lego sets,” said Liz Wylie, a spokeswoman for the Mountain View police. “He sold 2,100 items in just over a year on eBay, and made $30,000. The motive was clearly money. Why does he want the money? I don’t know. I can think of a million different possible scenarios. For some people it’s boredom. For some it’s a compulsive thing.” Langenbach’s eBay selling handle was “tomsbrickyard.”
At his home, investigators discovered “many, many sets of Legos that he had built, separated in bricks by color, by type, by size.”
I have known TWO Lego “afficionados” in my life: one at Netscape, and now one whom I met through artistic contacts.
I hope that Mr. Langenbach, if convicted, receives an appropriate sentence under the law.
-Bill at
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