Reckless Ben Jailed Over $200,000 Star Wars LEGO Dispute
reckless ben, the YouTuber Ben Schneider, was jailed in Utah County on stalking, criminal trespass, targeted residential picketing, and disorderly conduct charges. The dispute started with a $200,000 Star Wars LEGO collection and ended with criminal charges after a viral online campaign drew more than 2 million clicks.
Bricks & Minifigs said Schneider’s videos amounted to a “coordinated, viral extortion campaign,” while the American Fork Police Department said it is “not currently seeking” him and that officers are strictly investigating potential illegal acts. Those two positions leave the case in a different place than the store fight that sparked it: in a courtroom, not just on YouTube.
Salem’s 780 sets
In 2023, Bryan Mansell and his 83-year-old father, Eric, placed a large LEGO collection on consignment at a Bricks & Minifigs franchise in Salem, Oregon. The inventory included 780 unopened sets and 1,200 rare figures, with one Cloud City set valued at over $10,000.
Bricks & Minifigs corporate headquarters later repossessed the Salem location from Chrystal Law and Ben Gorman over a $175,000 debt, changed the building locks, and installed new managers Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best. Johnson and Best refused to give the remaining toys back to the family, keeping the collection dispute alive even after the ownership change.
Schneider’s Utah push
Schneider then posted confrontational videos from the store, plastered a fake closure banner on the storefront, and traveled to the private Utah residences of Johnson and Best to serve legal papers. He also alleged officers pulled his car over for a bogus two-hour drug search and said he was targeted because the business owners are members of the same church.
Bricks & Minifigs sued him, and the family refused to take back bricks worth between $2,000 and $5,000 that the company said might possibly be related to the inventory. The company also said its lawyers believed Law may have secretly sold off items herself without reimbursing the family, which keeps the blame split across the store, the collectors, and Schneider’s public campaign.
Utah County jail
Schneider’s jail booking turned a social-media feud into a legal problem with real exposure. The misdemeanor counts now hanging over him — stalking, criminal trespass, targeted residential picketing, and disorderly conduct — give the dispute a much sharper edge than the online video series that carried it to more than 2 million clicks.
Schneider later claimed in an update that he has officially fled to Mexico, while a GoFundMe for the family’s legal expenses had cleared $10,000. The filing pile and the police statement point to the same conclusion: this fight is now headed to court, and the store dispute no longer stands alone.
