Law&Crime Sidebar - Court Demands Fingerprints in 'Reckless Ben' LEGO Scandal

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

YouTuber Ben Schneider, known as "Reckless Ben," recently appeared in a Utah court in connection with his viral investigation into a missing Star Wars LEGO collection. The chaotic dispute involving original owner Bryan Mansell and store managers Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best started at a Bricks & Minifigs store in Salem, Oregon, before escalating into allegations of stalking and trespass. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down what happened during the latest hearing and dives into the wild backstory that led to the creator's arrest.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Taking care of your health just got easier – start here with Zocdoc: https://zocdoc.com/JESSE  #sponsoredHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Okay, and we've got Mr. Schneider online. I believe he is here, yes. I'm here, yes. That is Ben Schneider, reckless Ben, making his appearance in Utah court to face criminal charges in connection with the now viral Lego saga controversy. We're going to break down what happened in court and how we got here. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

Okay, got an update for you in the Reckless Ben saga. he was in court. He was in court. We have the video of it. Now, before I play you the video of this and tell you what happened, I got to give you the backstory and also an update for you since the last time we talked about this case. So this all centers around a dispute over this reportedly high-valued Star Wars Lego collection. There was a guy named Brian Mansell says he placed this Lego collection that was reportedly originally valued it over $200,000, although there was reporting maybe it's worth less than that, on consignment. at a bricks and minifig store in Salem, Oregon back in 2023. Apparently, the original owner

of this store would sell the sets, keep a commission, and then you go. But bricks and mini figs, corporate allegedly said to do this, to enter into this agreement with Mansell, this violated their franchise rules. 2024, the store closed and the details about that, by the way, or even in dispute. That's a side question. But Mansell reportedly asked for either the remaining parts of the collection that had it been sold back to come back to him or 80,000. Now, the new store managers, reportedly Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best, allegedly said the Lego sets weren't there. And according to the Salem Business Journal, one year after entering into this consignment agreement with the prior owner, Mansell reportedly sent a termination notice to Johnson saying he hadn't been paid that month's earnings from sales and that he hadn't been allowed to come inspect the inventory. Eventually, they seem to offer Mansell recovered sets worth $2,000 to $5,000, which Mansell reportedly rejects.

So Mansell and his family allegedly don't get the Legos, they don't get the money. And according to Salt Lake Tribune, court records alleged that for months, Mansell filed police reports, posted negative reviews, allegedly harassed the new managers. That's an allegation. This is when YouTuber Reckless Ben gets involved, okay? gets involved. He's this investigative podcaster, and he reportedly travels to Utah. This is where Johnson and Best's LLC is headquartered and allegedly even goes to their homes. According to Oregon Live, court records appear to show that in March of 2026, Reckless Ben filed a small claims lawsuit against Johnson. Before even get into that, when I interviewed Reckless Ben right here on Sidebar, this is his take on the legal

situation, part of his take. When did the lawsuit get filed? The first one, so we actually did one lawsuit and then they ended up closing down the whole store so that ended up actually not working out. I think they closed down a store to avoid paying us. So if we can't sue the LLC, we'll, we shut down their store, we'll just sue them personally, you know. And so that lawsuit was filed probably a couple of days before I went to Oregon, I'd say. So, so in other words, you couldn't even get this in front of a court, get this in front of a jury, litigate it, they closed the store, so there was nothing to do. So you decided to go to Utah now to confront Mr. Johnson, right? And explain to us what happened there. So it's such a long story.

So first, before you can get a court case approved, you have to have what's called a good faith conversation. And I mean, every state's different, but in Marion County court in Oregon, Utah, this is their procedure, I guess. So you have to show actual verifiable proof that you try to have, like, resolve outside of court first before I can get to a court. So I go to Josh's house to basically just talk this out with him, like, hey, like, we don't want to take you to court. Can we solve this, like adults, you know, and he calls the cops on me. And they let me go, of course. because I do anything illegal. And then

I'm like, okay, well, we had the good faith conversation. My court case gets approved. So we, next step, serving papers. I can't serve in papers because I'm involved in the court case. But I, so I just like literally put on my Instagram story.

I was like, hey, anyone want to like help me with a video and someone reached out? And I felt kind of bad sending her there by herself because she's like a girl going to this unhinged, like kind of lunatic guy who, really the previous day made a false, yeah, we think he made a false arrest that we had heroin in our car.

We got a three-hour search on a car the day before. So this guy is unhinged. He actually, we found that later that's good that I plug up with her because he said he was going to shoot the next person that, like, walks on his property or something. He told that to the police. So basically, I was sitting in the car next door.

We got permission from the police. We said, hey, is it okay if we do this? we will sit in the street. Like we pay taxes, you know, so like we have a right to be on the street, like the sidewalk. And when he walks outside, then we'll start him in his paper. And the police, like, yeah, that's fine. As long as you're in the street, just don't go, you've been specifically, don't go on his property. And so we're going to wait for him to come outside.

And then the girl was going to serve him his court paper. But before we could do that, he called the cops on us. And at first the cops were like, okay, like, I see what you guys are doing here. like this is the legal way to do it. They'll leave. Because the cops on us again. I think the cops just ended up leaving and coming back for probably a two or three hour period until finally Josh has convinced the police that this is a fake lawsuit.

And we see this in the unreacted Biden campaign. He's like, I think he said it's a billion, a million, billion, a trillion time, percent fake is what he said in his exact quotes. And he's now fully convinced to the police department, this is a fake lawsuit. So the police officer actually goes and calls the court, verifies it's a real lawsuit, and then after that, that's when they arrest me, I guess.

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and there were allegations. Ben was directing these people, and there was impersonation allegations, just to get closer to the homes, to get contact with Johnson and Best. And this all leads to Ben's arrest. How's going to Hall of Charleston, the very poor police department. How are you? Good. How are you?

Good. What's your name? Are you Ben? Okay, go in lower this window for me, would you? What's your last name, Ben? Schneider. Okay. What are we doing, boys? We're just going for a drive. I actually live in the area. Okay. I'll ask again, because I wasn't born yesterday. are we doing it why are we harassing people you already you have your ID on you or no so

do you want to follow us to my house my house is literally down the street right so well here's the thing okay so you were all involved yesterday in an issue at uh two saint four stores avenue right you were trespassed from the residence yesterday right yeah but we were I know. You sent someone else. We didn't send him. Who sent him then? See that were trespassed yesterday though. Why don't you call him? Tell him to come over to the car

because he's not... We don't have that... How did he call you guys then? Really, guys? We're gonna play stupid? I know he called you guys. I watched him try to get in your car. Well, he's saying you sent him.

So it's not a church member going up and asking him. They seem like him like... They're too good. Okay, listen. If we want to play stupid, we can play stupid. I'm not. So I'm going to be straight up with you guys. He was at somebody's house harassing that individual.

He got trust... Listen, he got trespassed today. Okay? I see, I watch him, tried to get into your guys' car, and then he bails. Listen to what I'm saying, though. Then he said,

Ben is the one that sent me to, yeah. So Schneider was reportedly arrested twice by American Fork Police, charged with misdemeanors of stalking and targeted residential picketing. And then there was a separate case that he was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespass in connection with an incident back on December 10th, 2025. This is where he allegedly went to a Bricks and Minifix corporate office. You go to May. Ben releases a video series about this complicated case goes viral, millions of views about this, accused corporate of stealing, claim that police are protecting them, bricks and mini-figs, they end up filing a lawsuit against reckless Ben, Mr. Mansell and others.

You're talking 13 causes of action. Rico, so this is racketeering, defamation, injurious falsehood, civil conspiracy, stalking, nuisance, trespass, intentional infliction of emotional distress, there are a lot there. And corporate claims that Ben and Mansell, they allegedly coordinated this massive multi-platform media campaign that was aimed at not finding the truth, but was really an extortion plot to extort money and damage the company's brand and reputation. That this was allegedly done a very lucrative commercial prank stunt to get clicks, get all this money on GoFundMe, boost Patreon subscribers, and they claim that this wasn't investigative

journalism, but across the line. And they allege that there were fake raffle materials and fake Guinness World Records style awards and disguises and posting signs and all this. They said it was basically like harassment. And they basically said this led to online harassment and review bombing and death threats and that they're seeking all this money and damages. Those are the allegations. They also reportedly got a win in court. A temporary restructed. training order, a TRO, saying that the plaintiffs are likely to win on the merits of their case. And the court order essentially prevented Ben and Menzel from contacting, harassing, stalking, or intimidating any of the plaintiffs, their corporate employees or store owners,

stalking, trespassing, or targeted picketing anywhere near the private residences or storefronts belonging to the plaintiffs, publishing, distributing, or broadcasting false defamatory, disparaging images or statements regarding the business or its affiliates. And by the way, that's going to affect the YouTube portion of this, the videos, soliciting or recruiting bricks and minifigs employees, franchisees or contractors to work as undercover agents, creating, orchestrating, or participating in staged confrontations or deceptive activities. You get the idea.

Now, Reckless Ben then goes on camera and says, it makes a video of this and says, look, while we're all waiting for the next part of his video series, he claims legally he can't release it. Episode three is finally finished after crazy all-nighters and basically destroying my health, but I can't post it or I will go to jail. And not only that, I will also immediately lose my lawsuit of $300,000. And the go-fundee we made for Brian will go straight to this mystery company

that I am no longer allowed to talk about. But now we have an update. This is new. According to KSL.com, bricks and mini figs and reckless Ben agreed to resolve their dispute through mediation, not a public lawsuit. This is a different dispute resolution method. It's private. And this will apparently reverse the court's decision preventing Ben from releasing his next video, effectively cancels an upcoming court hearing where both sides were going to argue about this TRO. So Ben agrees, in essence, that neither he nor anyone working with him or affiliated with him would make any threats against bricks and minifigs or the owners or destroy property or stalk or trespass or publish any personal

contact information about the plaintiffs or even go within 100 yards of the bricks and mini figs offices. Okay, all of that happens. And now this brings us to what happened today in Utah court, the criminal case against Ben Schneider, reckless Ben. And there was reporting about whether or not he was going to represent himself in this. So look, we weren't sure what to expect. We go this hearing live. Very, very short. As you'll see, this is a virtual hearing. Take a look at what happened. All right. Is it Mr. Williams online? Yes, Your Honor. Good morning. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you, Mr. Williams? I'm doing well. Thank you for asking, sir. Okay. And we've got Mr. Schneider online.

I believe he is here, yes. I'm here, yes. Okay, we're here on case 261 ending 376. Scheduled for a pretrial this morning, Mr. Williams. It's anticipated. Your Honor, I'm asking the court to give us another pretrial conference date. Mr. Delacina, when I entered our appearance on June 24th, and I know that the city has responded to our requests for discovery,

and I know that we have some. Mr. Delacino and I were in a federal jury trial all last week in St. George. And so we're just sort of getting caught up on what's been provided right now. So if the court could give us a new date, that would give us a chance to go through what the city's provided. Just in the normal course then, Mr. Williams? I have probably, Your Honor, what is the next available date? maybe 30 days, about a month out. If-

Where does Mr. Schneider live? California, Los Angeles. Okay. So I'm assuming you need a WebEx. Yes. Your Honor, if the court could consider September 1st, will these always be on Tuesdays? Or Mondays, I apologize.

Monday or Tuesday is fine. Monday or Tuesday. or Tuesday could if the court has availability on September 1st and Ben does that work with you yes yeah that doesn't work for us a September let me go past Labor Day oh September 15th would that work September 15th 11 o'clock Utah time Mr. Schneider, did you do fingerprints? Oh, no, I have to get those done still. And Mr. Williams, can you work with them and get those submitted?

I will, Your Honor. We'll make sure that's taken care of. Okay. Anything else, gentlemen? No, Your Honor. Thank you. Okay, thank you. So there you go.

You heard from Ben. He was on this virtual hearing. His next pretrial hearing has been rescheduled to September 15th, 26 at 11 a.m. Utah time. Nothing groundbreaking here, very common for rescheduling of hearings to happen. So we don't have anything substantive, no substantive updates other than he needs to do those fingerprints. Utah law appears to lay out how you can obtain fingerprints of a criminal defendant who hasn't been booked into jail on charges. But there you go. And as this case progresses, I go back to my conversation with Reckless Ben here on Sidebar. Listen to this. Are you currently facing

criminal charges? Oh, a bunch, yeah. So what are you facing? The first one is stocking when we tried to serve on court papers. The second one is stalking when I made the go find me. They couldn't get me for stealing the Legos because obviously they stormed my house. There was no Legos. They tried to get you were accused of that at one point. You were accused of you being the one to steal the Legos. Yeah. Let go. Sorry. I found out that it's not Legos.

It's Lego. That's the plural. I found that out. Yeah, I just found that out too. Like, yeah, I was thought it was Lego. Legos the whole time also. Yeah. But you were accused of that at one point?

So you got to search more to see up. Search my house for stolen Legos. Obviously, they search the house by no Legos and then they just arrest everyone inside, which all the people that were inside, they didn't have probable cause to arrest them. They're just in a house. Like if you search a house, that doesn't give me probable cause to arrest everyone on the house. You know, maybe you could say I deserve. I deserved it because I created this go fund me.

I thought the go fund me was legitimate, you know, like, this guy I was like, we're stolen, let's just get the money back. But I guess in the state of Utah, they don't like it when you reimburse stuff, like money for someone who got their stuff stolen. And so I'm doing criminal charges for

the go fund meeting. And then I have that's an American fork, but I'm also getting charged in Provo for extortion. So after I basically just talked to the CEO, like, hey, can we like, please have the Legger's back, you know? I was pretty nice to him.

And then he calls the police department and says that, sorry, guys, it's coming out in the video in like four or five days. He calls the police department and says, Ben said, if you don't give the Leger's back right now, I'm going to burn down the entire building and I'm going to shoot everyone inside. And I'm like, I literally gave the police department the entire raw footage of our entire interaction. that there's nothing like that in there and they're still charging me for that and that one's a felony it's a class B felony they're getting me for so I don't know what's going on I guess we'll

find out before it that's been exciting but yeah after by the way as we're talking about all this do you regret jumping in on this I mean no this has been awesome repercussions it's awesome you said it's awesome yeah my whole career has been basically trying to put myself in like super hard situations that are figuring a way to solve it and like like okay we have this huge problem how are we going to solve it and now i feel like i got a pretty big problem right like this company's using one of the best law firms in the entire world to try and destroy me from putting out this documentary about him how do you got this problem it's a huge problem and i don't know i can come with creative ways to get out i guess so um it's like a peak like what i live for you know

i love solving problems i love doing hard things and this is exactly what i live for Now, I got to call something out too that I thought was interesting. This is a misdemeanor case. It has gotten a lot of attention, a lot of thoughts, a lot of commentary on reckless Ben, and what he purportedly was trying to do, who's in the right, who's in the wrong. Law enforcement even got involved in this in terms of saying, look, we know that people have feelings about this. We're just trying to follow the law. But KSL spoke with Steve Burton, who is a Utah attorney. He's also the director of the Utah defense. defense attorney association. He brought up some interesting points to consider in the criminal case

that I just want to call out. So he basically made, again, some interesting points about how under current Utah law, law enforcement, they're able to redact portions of body cam footage. So while people may think something nefarious is going on, there are perhaps legal exceptions to what can be publicly released. Now, maybe this is something that was talked about in the article, perhaps there needs to be a change in the law. I don't know. He also questioned whether the stalking charge is appropriate, that he and his organization tried to challenge it, to change it, to mean someone has to be in fear for their physical safety, not just that it causes emotional distress. So he basically made the argument that that statute is broad, as well as disorderly

conduct and residential picketing. He even questioned the validity of one of those initial traffic stops that saw Ben talk to the cops. Is it possible those conversations or evidence that was obtained from that stop could be thrown out? I don't know. Something to look out for. But again, as this case progresses, we're going to be on top of it here on Sidebar and just some things to think about. It's all we have for you right now. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, X Instagram, my news. Nation Show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.