# RO Lite: the Pollaras **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251 "2012-08-12T05:39:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/21 "2012-08-12T20:19:58Z")
Pollara probably would have gotten away with his crime wave if he had just used cash and not left a paper trail. But he wanted the reward points. I just checked the company website for their reward point policy. Pollara earned $135 for his reward card. As opposed to the $909,876 he earned from the thefts. I’m not really surprised by this. I regularly encountered criminals who used the same kind of thinking. I worked in a prison and that’s where I encountered these criminals. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/22 "2012-08-12T21:32:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Pollara probably would have gotten away with his crime wave if he had just used cash and not left a paper trail. But he wanted the reward points. > > I just checked the company website for their reward point policy. Pollara earned $135 for his reward card. As opposed to the $909,876 he earned from the thefts. > > I’m not really surprised by this. I regularly encountered criminals who used the same kind of thinking. I worked in a prison and that’s where I encountered these criminals. This guy below always stuck me as the blue ribbon prize winner of of cheap and stupid criminals. [1993 World Trade Center bombing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Trade_Center_bombing) > [@](#): > > In the days after the bombing, investigators surveyed the damage and looked for clues. While combing through the rubble in the underground parking area, a bomb technician located some internal component fragments from the vehicle that delivered the bomb. A vehicle identification number (VIN), found on a piece from an axle, gave investigators crucial information that led them to a Ryder truck rental outlet in Jersey City. Investigators determined that the vehicle had been rented by Mohammad Salameh, one of Yousef’s co-conspirators.[21] **Salameh had reported the van stolen, and when he returned on March 4, 1993, to get his deposit back, authorities arrested him**. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/23 "2012-08-12T21:48:06Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This guy below always stuck me as the blue ribbon prize winner of of cheap and stupid criminals I think the bombers of the USS Cole pulled some kind of cheap assed shit that got em caught as well. What at the moment I don’t recall. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/24 "2012-08-13T02:36:45Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The 7K was on the cheap big box items he bought at retail . Each of these boxes was emptied and stuffed with bunches of high priced Lego kits then resealed. I’m still not getting it. The article linked to said he put two $300 Lego kits in a $50 box. So I underestimated by a factor of two. He got $600 worth of stuff for $50. But to make the numbers he has claimed to have been making, he’d have to put $14K worth of stuff in it, or $7K worth of stuff if we’re going with the number closer to $1M. What is he stuffing those boxes with? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/25 "2012-08-13T03:09:49Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m still not getting it. The article linked to said he put two $300 Lego kits in a $50 box. So I underestimated by a factor of two. He got $600 worth of stuff for $50. But to make the numbers he has claimed to have been making, he’d have to put $14K worth of stuff in it, or $7K worth of stuff if we’re going with the number closer to $1M. What is he stuffing those boxes with? That was kind of my question. If he has around 900,000 in sales and he's retailing these ( 100 - 300 at retail) games and kits at say 100 - $ 200 or so each on eBay he would have had to make about 6x900 or 5,400 eBay transactions to generate that kind of cash. That means he’s listing and inputting 20 sales a day on the front end, and selling, invoicing, packing and shipping out around 20 sales a day on the back end, every day. That’s to say nothing of all the detail grunt-work in chasing non-payers, and keeping your listings straight etc. That’s close to a full time job or a hefty part time job. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/26 "2012-08-13T13:37:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m still not getting it. The article linked to said he put two $300 Lego kits in a $50 box. So I underestimated by a factor of two. He got $600 worth of stuff for $50. But to make the numbers he has claimed to have been making, he’d have to put $14K worth of stuff in it, or $7K worth of stuff if we’re going with the number closer to $1M. What is he stuffing those boxes with? He probably returned the Duplo kits afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/27 "2012-08-13T14:35:27Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > And this guy, and people like him, are the reason why we have to have RFIDs and merchandise that’s impossible to remove from the packaging. For that reason alone, I’d like to see him get life! I hate the rage that comes with trying to get one of those plastic packages open. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/28 "2012-08-13T15:25:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I’m still stunned he could get away with this at store after store. Seems like this would be something \*somebody \*would notice in hundreds of shipping trips. I can’t say i think much of Toys R Us security at this point? If nothing else, you’d think they’d notice the Duplo blocks lying around on the floor, at least in one store. Eventually, you’d think they’d notice a pattern. Also, someone mentioned that they were stealing video games as well as Mindstorms kits. Aren’t the video games (and possibly the Mindstorm kits) behind the counter, so that you need an employee to get them for you? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/29 "2012-08-13T16:44:26Z")
I’m guessing he shoplifted from other venues than Toys R Us as well, else the $2m figure seems a bit iffy. Unless he invested all his money into high yield stocks… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/30 "2012-08-13T16:57:59Z")
> [@astro](#): > > That was kind of my question. If he has around 900,000 in sales and he's retailing these ( 100 - 300 at retail) games and kits at say 100 - $ 200 or so each on eBay he would have had to make about 6x900 or 5,400 eBay transactions to generate that kind of cash. That means he’s listing and inputting 20 sales a day on the front end, and selling, invoicing, packing and shipping out around 20 sales a day on the back end, every day. That’s to say nothing of all the detail grunt-work in chasing non-payers, and keeping your listings straight etc. That’s close to a full time job or a hefty part time job. According to the article, he regarded this activity as his job. That is, he didn’t just casually go about it, he planned his activities, and tried to maximize his profits, which is where he got caught…just trying to get that little extra bit of profit from the rewards card. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/31 "2012-08-13T18:12:30Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If nothing else, you’d think they’d notice the Duplo blocks lying around on the floor, at least in one store. Eventually, you’d think they’d notice a pattern. Also, someone mentioned that they were stealing video games as well as Mindstorms kits. Aren’t the video games (and possibly the Mindstorm kits) behind the counter, so that you need an employee to get them for you? I have not been into a ToysRUs is a very long while, but it surprises me that shopliftable Lego kits worth $ 300 at retail can be picked up off the floor. There are cheap PC notebooks and tablets that sell for around that at Best Buy and they are wired and alarmed. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/32 "2012-08-13T18:44:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m not really surprised by this. I regularly encountered criminals who used the same kind of thinking. I worked in a prison and that’s where I encountered these criminals. I worked in a bank and encountered this as well. One woman was cashing bad checks for about $900-1000, and had made about $20,000 that way. Then one day after cashing one, she came into our bank to cash one for a mere $175. The police took her out of there in handcuffs. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/33 "2012-08-13T21:00:37Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > I’m guessing he shoplifted from other venues than Toys R Us as well, else the $2m figure seems a bit iffy. Unless he invested all his money into high yield stocks… One of the articles mentioned he had also stolen from CVS. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251/34 "2012-08-13T23:27:16Z")
Maybe he kept going back to Toys R Us because they the worst security of any store he scoped out. It’s also possible he stole to fulfill orders. Rather than steal things and try to sell them, he advertised high profit items, but didn’t steal things until he had orders for them. That would cut down on his “in stock” inventory and his risk. After a while, he would probably have a pretty decent sense of what items sold regularly, and could focus better on them. Also, the more he focused on fewer items, the wider his radius of stores to steal from would have to expand. There are only so many pricey Lego kits available to steal in each store. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ro-lite-the-pollaras/631251.md?page=1)