Lego Stanley Cup stolen from Las Vegas convention

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2003 | 10:44 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The latest item to be stolen from a Las Vegas exposition is a Lego version of the Stanley Cup.

A replica of the championship trophy for NHL hockey, made from 6,000 Lego bricks, disappeared sometime before the close of the annual sports equipment Super Show that took place last week at the Sands Expo and Convention Center and The Venetian Congress Center, officials at Lego's North American headquarters in Enfield, Conn., said Monday.

The Denmark-based Lego company is offering a reward of NHL tickets and various Lego products for its return.

The replica cup, one of two the company built, was on display to promote a new line of Lego NHL hockey sets. The other model was a gift to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

The cup was supposed to make an appearance in Florida this week at the NHL's All-Star festivities.

"We're hoping to convince Commissioner Bettman to let us borrow his personal cup so that others may enjoy viewing it," Andrew Black, president of Lego Americas, said.

For years there have been complaints about thefts from Las Vegas conventions, everything from laptop computers to a 560-pound, one-of-a-kind computer programmable light worth $35,000 that was stolen in October.

Exhibitors have reported more than 160 thefts from convention centers in Las Vegas in each of the last three years, and earlier this month Metro Police acknowledged that the number of convention thefts in Las Vegas is "excessive." Private security firms handle the events.