GRAND THEFT LEGO: How One Man’s ‘Star Wars’ Collection Set The Internet Ablaze

The internet has been up in arms about one of the biggest Lego scandals in human history, involving a record-breaking Lego set and accusations of corporate greed, content farming, and police irresponsibility.

Eric Mansell, along with his son Bryan, reportedly collected a Lego Star Wars collection consisting of 780 boxed Lego sets and 1,200 rare figures as an investment for his grandchildren. The collection was reportedly priced between $60,000 to $200,000.

The family gave the collection to Bricks and Minifigs, an after-market Lego reseller, to sell on consignment. But when the store changed hands, the new owner refused Mansell access to the collection and denied even having it.

“All you have to do is let me in back. We can go that route or we can go to court,” Mansell said he told the store owner, adding, “And the guy there just looks at me, crosses his arms and goes, ‘Let me tell you what’s going to happen. If we go to court, we’re going to drag this thing out so long and you’re going to end up spending so much more money than your collection is ever worth or what you ever would have gotten out of it, then it ain’t worth it, man.’”

Bricks and Minifigs denied “knowingly” stealing the Lego collection, stating, “The actual origin of this dispute lies in an unauthorized, local consignment arrangement between an independent former franchisee of the Salem store and the Mansell family.” The company stated that the collection was not even in the store when Johnson and Brandon Best took it over, as the collection was moved to an “offsite secure location.” 

Bricks and Minifigs stated that it found between $2,000 and $5,000 worth of the sets in the store that could possibly belong to the Mansell family. It stated, “We offered to return these items to the Mansell family though BAM had no legal obligation to do so, but it was refused.”

“Neither corporate nor the incoming owners (Josh Johnson and Best) ever took, sold, or concealed this collection,” the company added, claiming that inventory logs show the collection was already missing at the time of the takeover of the franchise.

Ben Schneider, who is known on YouTube as Reckless Ben, brought the case to the public’s attention after he sought to help the family get compensation for the massive Lego set. Schneider even went to the Bricks and Minifigs store to look into the case, but the police were called and he was ordered to stay off the property after being accused of harassment. Schneider was also accused of trespassing after he attempted to go to the office of Ammon McNeff, the CEO of Bricks and Minifigs.

After Schneider reportedly tried all forms of discussion with Best and his business associate Joshua Johnson, he managed to win a default judgement in a small claims court against them for the Legos. However, Best and Johnson closed the Bricks and Minifigs store shortly after the controversy erupted.

Schneider then tried to personally sue Johnson and Best to recover the money, but said he had difficulty having a good faith conversation and serving the court papers required to personally sue. 

Schneider said he waited outside Johnson’s house away from his property so he could talk with him about the lawsuit while not being accused of trespassing. Johnson reportedly refused to leave his property and called the cops multiple times on Schneider, one time allegedly accusing him of having heroin in his car, which turned out to be false. 

After Schneider was released on bail, the police later raided the house where Schneider and his friends were staying. The police arrested them all, and Schneider accused officers of dislocating his arm in the process.

Schneider and his friends were interrogated, and the police tried to keep Schneider in jail with no bail, but a judge allowed him to go. When Schneider was reportedly notified that there was another bail out for his arrest on the pretext that he was a physical threat to Johnson, he fled to Mexico to wait until things were sorted out.

In response to the ongoing problem with Schneider, Mansell, Johnson, and Best, Bricks and Minifigs filed a lawsuit against Schneider for conducting a harassment and extortion campaign against Bricks and Minifigs in Utah and Oregon. The company also released an official statement defending their side of the story.

The Bricks and Minifigs website has called Schneider and his content creator friends “zealous online profiteers” who have been engaged in “viral mischaracterizations” and “sensationalization” of their actions, and the actions of Johnson and Best.

Bricks and Minifigs also denied receiving verifiable copies of the signed contract, receipts of payment to the Mansell family, and a true listing of the inventory. It also said the store was closed “because our staff — including local teenagers — faced severe real-world safety hazards, targeted in-person stalking, and explicit bomb threats driven by viral videos.”

The American Fork Police Department posted a video detailing its perspective on the events, including previous claims about harassment, stalking, forging of signatures, and theft of Legos. The police department also stated it wanted to stop Schneider’s attempt to contact Johnson about the Legos because Johnson “reported that he was going to shoot someone as a result of the ongoing harassment.”

Schneider has also issued a response to the police video, stating that the police raided “my house for stealing the Legos when there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that Josh stole the Legos” and that the police “redacted everything” that supported Schneider in the body cam footage, saying that the reason was “to protect the victims.”

Schneider also started a GoFundMe to help the Mansell family recover the cost of their collections and to pay for legal fees as he is considering suing Best, Johnson, and the police department.

Most recently, Bricks and Minifigs released a statement declaring that it were permanently closing their Salem location, parting ways with Johnson and Best, and “personally reached out to Bryan Mansell and family to meet, to review documentation revealed in the investigation, and to come to a mutual and positive resolution.”