Ben “Reckless Ben” Schneider has released the third video in his fight with Bricks & Minifigs, and the material he presents is ugly for the company and for police in Utah. It also shows why representing himself in related criminal cases remains a bad bet.
The dispute began with Bryan Mansell’s effort to recover Lego sets, or payment for them, after a Bricks & Minifigs store changed hands. Schneider, a YouTuber, got involved and turned the fight into a video series. A state-court injunction had initially blocked the third installment, according to Techdirt, before a federal court narrowed that order and cleared the way for publication.
Schneider’s video is edited and presents his side of the record. Even with that caveat, the body-camera clips and documents he shows raise serious questions about how Bricks & Minifigs chief executive Ammon McNeff described events to police, and how officers responded.
Bodycam footage becomes the problem
According to Techdirt’s account of the video, Schneider says prosecutors and the court have failed to give him basic information about the criminal cases against him. The clips described do not clearly prove that claim. They do show prosecutors resisting discovery of body-camera footage, reportedly because Schneider might use it in commentary videos.
That is a weak basis for withholding evidence. If prosecutors are worried about public use of discovery material, the ordinary tool is a protective order, not pretending the defendant’s YouTube channel cancels discovery obligations.
The Provo footage described in Schneider’s video is more serious. Techdirt reports that a police officer told McNeff that extortion did not fit the facts, then suggested another charge, aggravated commercial obstruction. The officer reportedly said police wanted to help Bricks & Minifigs avoid dealing with Schneider and his “issues,” then walked McNeff through elements needed for the charge.
One key element was whether Schneider had been asked to leave the premises more than once and refused. McNeff told police he had, according to the footage described by Techdirt. Schneider’s own recordings and security video, as presented in his video, appear to show Schneider and others leaving when told to go. There is a less helpful moment for Schneider in which he says, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” a line that can read as threatening even if the surrounding context suggests he meant further public videos.
McNeff also allegedly told police Schneider had threatened to burn down the company’s offices. Techdirt notes that Bricks & Minifigs’ civil complaint attributes threats to online fans rather than to Schneider directly, and that the evidence Schneider has released does not show him making violent threats.
The footage also reportedly shows the officer reacting happily when McNeff’s answers supported a possible second-degree felony charge. Later, the same officer allegedly mocked Schneider’s YouTube work and told McNeff she would keep her fingers crossed for him.
The company’s inventory story keeps shifting
Schneider’s video also attacks Bricks & Minifigs’ account of the missing inventory. McNeff allegedly told Schneider he would provide the inventory list if Schneider emailed a specific address. When Schneider did, BAM Franchising, Inc., the Bricks & Minifigs franchising entity, responded that it would not communicate in what it characterized as public provocation, harassment, or manipulation for media content, according to Techdirt.
That response sits awkwardly beside McNeff’s public claims that the company tried to share inventory information with Mansell and his lawyer. Techdirt reports that email snippets shown by Schneider instead show Mansell’s lawyer repeatedly asking how to recover the money or sets, followed by a company response saying Brandon Best and Joshua Johnson had no legal duty to return the Lego product and that no products would be returned.
Bricks & Minifigs is also suing Mansell for $1.3 million under a RICO theory, while saying publicly that it wants to make him whole. The company’s latest blog post said it remains open to a mediated resolution and would not try the matter on social media. It also announced a standardized inventory and trade system and closer work with franchisees, changes that implicitly acknowledge gaps in the prior setup.
Schneider now has counsel in the civil litigation, according to Techdirt. The criminal matters are a different problem. Viral evidence can change public pressure. It does not replace a lawyer who knows when the court is allowed to consider evidence and how to force the state to produce discovery.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.