American Fork police have charged YouTuber Ben Schneider, known as Reckless Ben, after his viral campaign tied to a reported $200,000 “Star Wars” Lego collection escalated into repeated calls, alleged confrontations, and a dispute that began in Oregon. The pol
AMERICAN FORK — The tension didn’t build slowly. It arrived in a cycle of videos, banners, and repeated police calls, all orbiting one claim: a family’s Lego collection worth about $200,000 was taken after a consignment agreement went wrong.
Ben Schneider. known on YouTube as Reckless Ben. traveled to American Fork to help Bryan Mansell. a man who said his family’s “Star Wars” Lego collection had been stolen by Bricks and Minifigs. a Utah-based Lego resell company. The videos that followed alleged that Mansell had left the Legos at an Oregon franchise of Bricks and Minifigs under a consignment deal—but after the corporate side took over the store and gave it to a new owner based in American Fork. Mansell said he received neither the money nor his Legos.
Schneider didn’t stop at filming. In the continuing videos. he tried to force a resolution by contacting Bricks and Minifigs employees. posting large banners about the alleged theft over the company’s sign. delivering an award to the store for “most Legos stolen. ” and filing multiple small-claims lawsuits. He also created a satirical company called “We Steal From Old People. ” with a logo that places its name under the Bricks and Minifigs logo. And in one of his efforts, he traveled to American Fork to confront the company’s owner at his home.
A video from Schneider’s channel released on Saturday drew fresh attention to the American Fork Police Department’s response after he says he was trying to have a “good faith conversation” and serve papers as required by an Oregon court to start a lawsuit. In that video. he focuses on the department’s response to multiple calls. including calls tied to Schneider’s presence in front of one of the company’s owners. Josh Johnson.
By March 27, police say the standoff crossed a legal line.
“Not exempted”
In a video posted to social media. American Fork Police Chief Cameron Paul said Schneider’s videos were “presented in a way that calls into question some of the actions of our department.” Paul walked through the department’s handling of four case numbers tied to calls that Johnson made from March 9 through March 12. explaining why officers responded and what they did.
Paul said that twice, officers decided to arrest Schneider. He was ultimately charged on March 27 with stalking, a class A misdemeanor, and targeted residential picketing, a class B misdemeanor.
Paul said the department was not being pulled into the merits of the underlying dispute.
“The fact that someone may have believed they were wronged financially does not exempt any individual from the laws governing harassment. trespassing. stalking or other conduct within our jurisdiction. We remain committed to enforcing the law fairly. objectively and transparently regardless of who was involved or what narrative might exist. ” Paul said.
He added that the police role was not to determine what was morally right about the business agreement.
“I understand that many people following this situation online have strong feelings regarding the underlying business dispute out of Oregon and allegations that individuals may have lost significant amounts of money. I recognize that people are frustrated. angry and may feel that justice has not been served in relation to those allegations. Those concerns are understandable, I understand them and am empathetic to them. And. nothing in the actions taken by the American Fork Police Department should be interpreted as validating. supporting or defending anyone involved in that separate civil or criminal dispute. ” Paul said.
“What the department was doing was enforcing Utah’s law,” he said, saying the department’s focus was law enforcement rather than adjudicating the civil or criminal dispute happening under Oregon’s context.
The police video—currently the only one available on the channel—has over 425,000 views.
Calls to unredact and a feud with the stop sign
Schneider has continued attacking the police response while sharpening his campaign. In his account, he buckled down on complaints against the department, accusing it of lying about hurting his arm during a search of his Airbnb and in its claim that he hadn’t stopped at a stop sign.
Schneider said the police used that as an excuse to pull him over. He pointed to body camera video and said the car he was in did make a complete stop. He said he explained to officers that he was seeking to fulfill the requirements to file an Oregon lawsuit and that he told them Johnson was the one who was a criminal. accusing him of stealing Legos. He said that dragging the issue out was simply giving him more content.
The video ends with Schneider saying: “let’s find Bryan’s Legos.”
A fundraiser Schneider set up for Mansell after other options fell through has already earned over $250,000. Thousands of comments on the American Fork Police Department’s video and Facebook post side with Schneider. A fake American Fork Police Department Facebook account also appeared, and conversations were continuing there.
Schneider has said his next video would include allegations that he committed a felony, but at this point he has not been charged with a felony in Utah courts.
His next hearing on the misdemeanor charges is on July 1. At his last hearing, Schneider was granted permission to represent himself.
A broader courtroom fight over what was stored—and what was sold
The dispute isn’t only being argued on video. On May 27, Bricks and Minifigs and its owners filed a lawsuit in Utah’s 4th District Court against Schneider, Mansell and others involved seeking over $300,000.
That lawsuit accuses Schneider and the others of defamation, disparagement, conspiracy, stalking, trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Bricks and Minifigs responded with a statement saying the value of the Lego collection was exaggerated and was closer to $60,000 or $80,000. The franchise’s social media accounts, however, valued the collection at “well over $200,000” when advertising it in November 2024.
The company said it has always followed an approach that “any inventory that doesn’t belong to us should go back to its rightful owner.” It said evidence indicates most of those Lego sets were already sold before corporate took back the franchise. and that other inventory was stored offsite and that the new owners never had access to it.
Bricks and Minifigs also said it closed the Oregon location because the staff was facing stalking and bomb threats because of the viral videos, not because it lost the lawsuits that Schneider had claimed.
In its statement. the company said: “While we are completely willing to look in the mirror. tighten our business practices. and improve our corporate oversight. we must also draw a hard line against the aggressive. lawless bullying that has targeted our brand.” It added: “We will not be bullied into silence. nor will we allow online mobs to destroy a brand built on honesty and imagination.”.
On a frequently asked question page asking why the company doesn’t just pay the money back, Bricks and Minifigs said: “We want to help the family; we will not reward a toxic online circus.”
Mansell, for his part, has said in Schneider’s videos that he was never offered the Legos and that many of the sets were still sitting in the store when they went in.
The lawsuit said Chrystal Law. the previous franchise owner who also claims she was wronged in a YouTube video and has earned thousands in a related GoFundMe. was delinquent on payments. It says that delinquency was the reason the franchise was taken from her and her husband. The lawsuit also says Law was not cooperative as the store was taken back and that she refused to leave important records.
According to the lawsuit, Mansell showed up shortly after the franchise changed hands. But it says his “purported inventory list” did not include any Lego sets currently at the store. The lawsuit says police were called, and officers determined Mansell had “insufficient evidence of ownership.”
American Fork Police Ben Schneider Reckless Ben Bricks and Minifigs Bryan Mansell Lego theft Star Wars Lego collection Josh Johnson stalking charge targeted residential picketing July 1 hearing