LEGO Scandal Explodes as YouTuber ‘Reckless Ben’ is Arrested Twice

A family's $200,000 Lego collection, including a rare Star Wars set, was placed with a Bricks and Minifigs store in Oregon under a consignment agreement. According to Ben, the collection disappeared, and the family received no money. They sued the corporate owners, Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best, and won. However, the corporate owners allegedly closed the Oregon store to avoid paying the judgment, prompting Ben to file a new lawsuit against them personally in Utah.

Ben is investigating and he helps the owner of this collection sue the corporate owners of Bricks and Minigs and they apparently win. But according to Ben, the corporate owners to avoid paying the judgment, they close the Oregon store. Now Ben tells police that he filed a new lawsuit. This time against the owners personally.

Ben traveled to Utah to serve legal papers to Johnson and Best. His tactics included sending a proxy, Benjamin Adams, who initially claimed to be picking up a friend for a date but later admitted to filming for Ben. Another proxy, Christian Morgan, was sent to Johnson's door, claiming to be from a 'young men's group' and discussing an 'audio going around' about Johnson taking advantage of people. Morgan admitted Ben sent him to 'confront him and get his side of the story.' Ben himself, while driving, was pulled over and admitted to wearing a UPS hat and asking Johnson to sign for a package, which an officer identified as a potential federal crime. Ben was first arrested on March 10th for stalking after placing a sign across from Johnson's house that read, 'I stole a dying man's life savings.'

Joshua Johnson calls American Fork PD and he says that a suspicious person just showed up at his house. Person's apparently wearing a baseball cap with a UPS logo taped onto it and he left a package. inside that package reportedly rubber ducks. Johnson tells the dispatcher that he thinks it's Ben Schneider... [00:04:40] ...Ben Schneider. Okay. So, he sent you today, correct? asked you to be a third party leaison with him. Okay. So, he was trespassing this residence yesterday. He's using you third party to console. That's ending you up in the same trouble that he's in now. [00:14:30] ...Ben reportedly admitted that he put it there. That is when the officer told him that he was kind of straddling the line here. [00:28:22] ...We're under arrest right now for stalking.

On March 11th, Johnson called police again, reporting a group hanging the same defamatory message on a neighbor's fence. One individual was on FaceTime with Ben Schneider. Ben explained to police that he intended to create a viral video for a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $200,000 for the family, believing direct civil action was not working. He claimed his actions were 'satire' and protected by freedom of speech, especially since the signs were on a neighbor's property with permission. Despite his arguments, Ben was arrested again for an additional stalking charge, as police viewed these actions as a continuation of the pattern.

Now, there's a group of people reportedly hanging the same message on a neighbor's fence. Johnson's face. I stole a dying man's life savings. And one of them, they say, is on FaceTime with Ben Schneider. [00:31:55] ...So, let's do a GoFundMe. I have a big following. I've I'm very confident if I made a GoFundMe, we would get him the $200,000 just from a GoFundMe. [00:36:50] ...our plan kind of moving forward is we're going to book you back into the jail. Okay. For an additional stocking charge.

The American Fork Police Department issued a statement addressing the online controversy, clarifying that their responsibility was to enforce Utah law regarding harassment, trespassing, and stalking, not to determine the moral right or wrong of an out-of-state business dispute. They emphasized that perceived financial wrongdoing does not exempt individuals from local laws and that officers acted based on probable cause that a crime had occurred.

Our responsibility in Utah was not to determine who was morally right or wrong in a business disagreement originating in another state. Our responsibility was to respond to conduct reported here in our community, evaluate the facts available to our officers at the time, and enforce Utah law as officers established probable cause that a crime had occurred. The fact that someone may believe they have been wronged financially does not exempt any individual from the laws governing harassment, trespassing, stalking, or other conduct within our jurisdiction.