{"id":44261,"date":"2026-08-21T11:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=44261"},"modified":"2026-08-15T22:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:52:05","slug":"dilworth-man-charged-in-969-lego-theft-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/dilworth-man-charged-in-969-lego-theft-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Dilworth Man Charged in $969 Lego Theft Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dilworth Man Charged in $969 Lego Theft Case<\/h2>\n

Dilworth<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Dilworth man faces a gross misdemeanor theft charge involving nearly $1,000 worth of Lego sets.<\/p>\n

Carl Romell Crater, 25, is charged with theft in Clay County District Court.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege merchandise worth $969.55 was taken from the Dilworth Walmart without payment.<\/p>\n

The alleged theft happened during the afternoon of June 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

Cart Allegedly Filled With Lego Sets<\/h2>\n

Dilworth police received a theft report the following day, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Walmart asset protection staff reported that a man entered the store around 4:51 p.m.<\/p>\n

The man allegedly filled a shopping cart with several Lego sets.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say he then left the store without paying for the merchandise.<\/p>\n

Store staff valued the Lego sets at a combined $969.55.<\/p>\n

Investigators later obtained security video showing the person involved in the incident.<\/p>\n

Facial Recognition Used During Investigation<\/h2>\n

The complaint says police used Clearview AI while reviewing images from the store’s surveillance footage.<\/p>\n

The system returned Crater as a possible match, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

An investigator then compared the surveillance images with a recent booking photograph of Crater.<\/p>\n

The investigator concluded the person shown in the video was Crater, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

The complaint does not describe any additional physical evidence linking Crater to the merchandise.<\/p>\n

It also does not state whether the Lego sets were later recovered.<\/p>\n

Gross Misdemeanor Charge Filed<\/h2>\n

Crater is charged under Minnesota’s general theft statute.<\/p>\n

The count alleges he took property without the owner’s consent.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors further allege he intended to permanently deprive the owner of the property.<\/p>\n

The gross misdemeanor charge carries up to 364 days in jail.<\/p>\n

It also carries a possible fine of up to $3,000.<\/p>\n

The case is filed as Clay County court file 14-CR-26-2587.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota Statute 609.52<\/a> regarding theft offenses.<\/p>\n

Additional court information is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charge is an allegation and has not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Crater is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Dilworth man faces a gross misdemeanor theft charge after prosecutors say $969.55 in Lego sets were taken from Walmart without payment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[23245,7412,23171,22257,11126,23246,955,23247],"class_list":["post-44261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-carl-romell-crater","tag-clay-county-court","tag-dilworth-minnesota-news","tag-dilworth-walmart-theft","tag-gross-misdemeanor-theft","tag-lego-theft-case","tag-minnesota-crime-news","tag-walmart-shoplifting","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44262,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44261\/revisions\/44262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}