where-is-my-lego

At its heart, this is a simple human story. A man and his elderly father — reported to be around 83 — spent roughly 25 years building a LEGO Star Wars collection together: about 780 sets and 1,200 minifigures. In 2023 they handed it to a local LEGO resale shop to sell on consignment, with a signed contract saying any unsold sets stayed their property. After that shop changed hands in a business dispute, the family says their life's collection was never returned. One family's effort to get it back pulled in a YouTuber — and from there it snowballed into a viral video, criminal charges, a police controversy, and a 13-count lawsuit.

This repository is an archival research record of everything that followed — the Bricks & Minifigs (BAM) – "Reckless Ben" controversy: a public dispute over that LEGO Star Wars collection (family-valued at ~$200,000; see the value dispute below) consigned to a Bricks & Minifigs franchise in Keizer/Salem, Oregon, which escalated into a viral YouTube investigation, criminal charges against YouTuber Benjamin "Reckless Ben" Schneider in Utah, a law-enforcement controversy involving the American Fork Police Department, and a multi-count civil lawsuit filed in Utah County.

This is a research archive, not advocacy. Every substantive claim below is attributed to a public source and is labeled CONFIRMED (documented by court records, agency statements, or multiple independent outlets) or ALLEGATION (a contested contention by one side, not adjudicated). As of the compilation date, no court had found any party liable. Please read DISCLAIMER.md before using anything here.

Compiled: 2026-06-03 · Last updated: 2026-06-05 · Status of matter: active civil litigation + pending criminal matter

---

The story in plain terms

If the names and legal terms below get confusing, this is the whole thing in four beats:

• Who. Collector Bryan Mansell and his father (reported to be ~83), who built a LEGO Star Wars collection together over about 25 years.
• What the family says happened. They consigned the collection to a Bricks & Minifigs shop in Keizer/Salem, Oregon. The shop later changed hands in a separate business dispute, and the family says the unsold sets — still theirs under the signed contract — were never given back. (BAM denies any theft and says only a small remnant was ever at the store. Nothing has been decided by a court.)
• How it blew up. YouTuber Benjamin "Reckless Ben" Schneider made a video about it that went viral (~3M views), raised six figures on a GoFundMe for the family, and traveled to Utah to confront a store-side figure — where he was arrested twice and a residence was searched (the warrant return reported nothing seized). The case sparked national backlash against the American Fork Police Department.
• Where it stands now. BAM is suing Schneider, Mansell, and others in Utah — 13 causes of action. On June 4, 2026 BAM said it had "parted ways" (a mutual separation) with the two Salem franchise owners, Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best, and permanently closed the Salem store; CEO Ammon McNeff also said BAM was prepared to discuss dropping the suit against Mansell — though no source yet shows Mansell accepting or anyone being dismissed. Every side disputes the other's version, and no court has found anyone liable.

Why it's hard to follow: the dispute spans two states (Oregon and Utah), two lawsuits (the family/BAM fight and a separate former-franchisee suit), a criminal case, and a police controversy — but they all trace back to that one consigned collection. The detailed record is below.

---

Index

---

The full summary (every name, date, and figure)

In November 2023, collector Bryan Mansell and his elderly father consigned a large LEGO Star Wars collection (family-valued at ~$200,000; the figure is disputed — BAM and an inventory estimate put it far lower, roughly $60K–$98K) to a Bricks & Minifigs franchise in the Salem/Keizer, Oregon area, then run by franchisees Chrystal Law-Gorman and Benjamin "Ben" Gorman. After the franchisor repossessed the store from the Gormans (~November 2024) and it changed hands, the family alleged the collection was not returned. YouTuber Benjamin "Reckless Ben" Schneider publicized the dispute in a May 21, 2026 video that went viral, launched a six-figure GoFundMe, and traveled to American Fork, Utah, where store-side figure Joshua Johnson lives. Schneider was arrested twice (March 10–11, 2026) on misdemeanor charges and a judge-approved search warrant was executed; the warrant return reported no items seized. The episode drew national attention and heavy public backlash against the American Fork Police Department, which released body-cam footage and statements defending its conduct. On May 27, 2026, BAM Franchising and associated individuals sued Schneider and others in Utah Fourth District Court (case no. unverified; see lawsuit/court-documents.md), alleging defamation, a Utah RICO "pattern of unlawful activity," civil stalking, and more — 13 causes of action in total. BAM denies any theft; Schneider and the Mansell family deny the harassment/extortion framing. On June 4, 2026, BAM announced (via a BusinessWire press release and company blog) that it had "parted ways" — described as a mutual separation — with the Salem franchise owners Joshua Johnson and Brandon Best and permanently closed the Salem store, citing "a devastating social media campaign." In the same statements BAM re-valued the collection at $95,000–$100,000 (calling the ~$200,000 figure "promotional"), framed the consignment as an "unauthorized" side-deal predating Best/Johnson (a characterization Techdirt's June 2 reporting disputes), and said CEO Ammon McNeff was "prepared to discuss dropping the lawsuit against" Mansell and making him whole. ⚠ That offer is unilateral: no source shows Mansell accepting, the suit being dropped, or any party being dismissed, and the matter remains unresolved.

Methodology & a note on what is not here

• Sources are reputable secondary reporting (Wikipedia, Dexerto, ABC4, Salt Lake Tribune, Yahoo/In Touch, The Express Tribune, Brick Fanatics, Kotaku, Primetimer, NewsNation, American Fork Citizen), the parties' own public statements, and references to the public court docket.
• The compilation environment had no outbound network access (egress allowlist), so media and court documents are cataloged by link rather than re-hosted. media/download_manifest.md lets you fetch them in an unrestricted environment.
• No private personal information (home addresses, personal phone numbers, family details, workplace schedules, etc.) about any individual — private citizen or police officer — is collected here. Individuals appear only in their public roles and public statements. This is a deliberate scope choice: doxxing and harassment are themselves contested allegations in this case, and a PII-aggregating "dossier" would be both unethical and self-discrediting as a record.