5 Secrets Uncovered in Viral LEGO Scandal: Investigation

Reckless Ben was investigating a missing. [music] LEGO fortune and now a new legal. move means his latest episode that. everybody wanted to see in this saga may. never see the light of day. But while. Ben has been ordered to stay silent, another investigation has uncovered new. questions including [music] a disputed. inventory, a mysterious U-Haul, and why. the company is now reportedly suing the. man who reportedly lost almost. everything. Welcome to Sidebar presented.

by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, before we jump into this, did. you know that Father's Day is like right. around the corner? Yeah, I didn't even. realize it. And if you're looking for. what is that perfect gift for all the. dads out there, I want you to meet the. Chef IQ Send Smart Meat Thermometer. This is the secret to stress-free. restaurant-level cooking. So whether. you're a seasoned grill master or maybe. just trying to throw some steaks on this. summer, the smart thermometer, it's a. game-changer. There's no more. overcooking. There's no more, I think. this might be done. No, no, no, no. Chef.

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crazy all-nighters and basically. destroying my health, but I can't post it or I will go to. jail. And not only that, I will also. immediately lose my lawsuit of $300,000. and the GoFundMe we made for Brian will. go straight to this mystery company that. I'm no longer allowed to talk about. >> We've been on the story from the. beginning if you've been following us, right? YouTuber Reckless Ben, Benjamin. Schneider, nearly a million subscribers,

he investigates everything. He goes. undercover, he exposes schemes. This. time, has the scheme exposed him? That's. going to be an argument because that. seems to be at least what authorities. may be thinking here. That seems to be. what the court may be thinking here. Because here's where we are now, as of. literally days ago. And remember, Ben. appeared on this program, appeared on. Sidebar, we talked to him. But Ben. Schneider says he can't talk anymore. Says if he posts his next video, he's.

going to go to jail. And it doesn't seem. he means metaphorically, handcuffs, cell, jumpsuit, that he would. essentially violate a court order, a. temporary restraining order if he did. so. And he says that the GoFundMe money, apparently this $400,000. raised for that family in Oregon, all of. it would go away. So now you might be. saying, if you've been following the. saga, what the heck happened? How did a LEGO. investigation turn into this? A. restraining order, police crackdown, and.

now there is public outcry that has. reached the city council chambers. Just. days ago, angry citizens took to the. podium in the city of American Fork out. in Utah expressing fear about their own. police department. >> In fact, seeing this conduct, I am in. fear of standing here with seeing if. there's any retribution that they might. bring on me. Cuz that is what they did to this. individual. And if they are willing to. do that to them, they are willing to do. that to me. >> Now here's the thing. While all of this.

was unfolding out in Utah, new. information was coming to light about. the case itself, the real value of the. LEGOs in question, what was actually in. that store, this mysterious U-Haul that. may have changed everything. Now I have. to get into this because I despite a. temporary restraining order, I don't. think this story is going anywhere. I. don't think it's even and to being over. So before we even get into all the new. stuff, we got to just make sure we're. all on the same page about what the. story even is. So, little short. abbreviated version here to catch up to.

speed. Now, Ben's account is that a man. named Brian Menzel had a massive Star. Wars LEGO collection. His father's. collection, actually. And built over the. years, worth a lot of money. And a. social media post at the time estimated. it at $200,000. Although, we'll learn something. important about that figure a little bit. later on. So, Brian apparently puts the. collection on consignment at a Bricks. and Minifigs store in Salem, Oregon. That means that the store will sell the. LEGOs, keep a percentage, and Brian gets. the rest. Standard arrangement. But.

then, the reporting is, corporate. allegedly shows up. And according to. what Ben Schneider has documented in his. online videos, and what another. independent YouTuber has appeared to. confirm in a separate investigation, which we'll get into, Bricks and. Minifigs corporate perform what's been. called essentially a hostile takeover of. that Oregon store. The existing. franchise owners, Crystal and Ben. Gorman, they apparently are removed, and. then new management takes over. And.

Brian's collection, according to Ben, gone. No money, no LEGOs. So, Brian apparently reaches out to. Reckless Ben. And Ben starts looking. into this. He starts investigating. And. this is what Ben told us when we talked. to him previously. >> So, basically, I've kind of gained a. reputation online of solving crimes that. the police aren't able to solve. And I. got probably like 10,000 emails. And. this one just seemed like one of the. most injustice out of all of them, where.

there was this guy who. this family spent their life savings. collecting the world's biggest Star Wars. LEGO collection. It was like a big deal. for them. And then, they give it to this. store, trusting that they're going to. sell it for them, and then they They. like almost nothing back. Or it so it was like. how can that happen like. >> So Ben apparently helps Brian file a. lawsuit. And according to Ben, essentially they win or they were going. to be victorious, but then he claims, according to Ben, corporate closes the.

store to avoid paying out a judgment. Ben apparently files another lawsuit. And this time it's against the owners. personally, Joshua Johnson and Brandon. Best, and they live in Utah. So Ben. reportedly, allegedly, flies to Utah and. tries to serve court papers. And and not. not it personally, but through other. people. And he tries to have what the. court calls a good faith conversation. before litigation. And that's where we. get to police involvement. This is where.

American Fork police initiated traffic. stops, trespass warnings. Ben gets. arrested, and then he gets arrested. again. And the American Fork Police. Department said in a public statement. that they were responding to what they. believed were legitimate complaints. They claim that Johnson and his family. felt threatened by Ben and others. allegedly showing up. They said they. have to enforce Utah law that regardless. of who's right or wrong in a business. dispute, if there are claims of. trespassing or harassment, they have to. investigate it. They have to enforce the.

law. And that is where we left it last. time. Now, new developments have changed. everything. I got to start with Ben's. own words. So this is just days ago, Ben. took to his YouTube channel Reckless Ben. and posted a short video. It's less than. 2 minutes, and he calls it my final. message. Now for those of us who have. been following this saga, this was a. much anticipated episode in this. investigation, right? We want Ben's. narrative. Doesn't necessarily make it.

true, but it's his version, right? And. could there be documentation? Could. there be videos, audio? Okay, this was. going to be the big reveal. Now the video drops, but instead of it. being about what Ben could say or what. Ben could claim or what could be or what. Ben could allege, it was all about what. he couldn't and may never again get to. say. >> Normally I would be like, "Screw the big guy telling me what to. do. I'm going to do what's morally. right." But in this situation, if I do.

that, then all my friends get screwed. with this lawsuit and we lose all the. GoFundMe money we raised like. immediately. The only problem is I was not given a. chance to share my side. The court just. heard their perspective, not mine. So, because I wasn't able to share my side, I'm now no longer allowed to talk about. them. >> So, according to IGN's reporting on June. 9th, a restraining order came after. Bricks and Minifigs told the court that. Ben was making threats,

bomb threats, death threats against. their manager and employees. Ben denies. the allegations, but a court seemed to agree that there. was a problem here. Temporary. restraining order, they look at it, they. say there's a likelihood that the the. plaintiffs here would win on the merits, and it basically restricts Ben in a. significant way from talking about the. company. Look, there is a interesting. legal issue I talked about it on Jesse. Weber Live last night, on my NewsNation. show, but basically, you have this. balance, right, between free speech and.

the court. And, you know, sometimes. there could be a challenge about, you. know, on one hand, you can't engage in. certain speech or conduct that would be. illegal, that would harass somebody or. target somebody, or release sensitive or. personal information. On the other hand, can something be an illegal prior. restraint? Are you illegally preventing. somebody from engaging in protected. speech? Put that legal issue to the. side. As of right now, the court ordered. this TRO. Episode 3 is finished. We now. may never see it. But, as I mentioned, this isn't over.

So, while Ben was being silenced by this. TRO, something else was happening. One. YouTuber in particular, someone who does. exactly what Ben does, decided to find. his own answers. And you may know him as. Coffeezilla, internet detective, investigate scams, frauds, online. grifts. He decided to take a deep look. at this Lego case. Now, his video is. called I found the $200,000 missing. Lego. And what he claims he found may.

change how we understand this entire. story, according to his opinion, according to his narrative. So, Coffeezilla reportedly talked to. everyone involved, the former franchise. owners, the corporate executives, the. new owners, Rebrickable Ben himself, and. he claims he went through photos and. spreadsheets and police records and. point of sale data, and he laid it all. out. So, I got to start with the number. that everybody's been using here, $200,000, right? That's what the social. media post said about the value of the. Lego collection. That's what Ben. originally reported. That's what got. everybody's attention. But according to.

Coffeezilla's investigation, he believes. that number was wrong. Because in his. video, he says he obtained the internal. inventory records of the original Bricks. and Minifigs owners, and according to. those records, the real estimated value. of Brian's collection was instead. reportedly about $107,000, not $200,000. Still a massive amount of. money. But Coffeezilla apparently spoke. to Ben about this directly. And. according to Coffeezilla, Ben allegedly. admitted he hadn't actually seen the.

final inventory sheet when he put out. that initial number. But Coffeezilla. also seemingly says that he found. something else out in those records. According to him, about $20,000. of Brian's collection was allegedly. marked as layaway. And when he. reportedly asked the incoming owner, Josh Johnson, how many items were on. layaway at the takeover, he claims. there's this text message that appears. to confirm that he said it was only two.

or three. But Coffeezilla apparently spoke to the. original owner who said it was closer to. 98 items. So, apparently worth between. 15K and 25K. It's a major point of. dispute. But, here's where the dispute. gets sharper. Because after this. reported hostile takeover, Bricks &. Minifigs corporate, they put out a. statement. And they reportedly said they. found only $2,000 to $5,000 worth of. Brian's collection in that store. Coffeezilla apparently didn't take their.

word for it. He claims he went through. over 200 photos that were taken by one. of the original store owners before the. takeover, and he and his team apparently. hand tagged every Star Wars LEGO they. could find that matched or possibly. matched Brian's inventory. Their. conclusion, according to them, about. $21,000. worth of Brian's collection was in that. store on the night of November 14th. That is three to five times what. corporate had claimed. And then he apparently looked at the. point of sale records. And according to.

his investigation, about $51,000. in sales matched Brian's collection. But, according to Coffeezilla, Brian was. only paid $17,000. So, that means, based on the consignment. agreement, Brian should theoretically. have received roughly double what he. actually got. And then there's the U-Haul. An ex-employee from the Eugene store. apparently came forward. Apparently told Coffeezilla that on the. night of this takeover, Brandon Best.

shows up at the store with a U-Haul. truck, apparently allegedly full of Star. Wars LEGOs from Salem. The employee. reportedly said that Brandon told them. that Crystal, the original franchise. owner, stole LEGOs and left the country. While. he was standing there with a U-Haul full. of LEGOs. That's the new allegation. So, Coffeezilla apparently asked. corporate about it. And according to. him, they said, "No U-Haul.".

Instead, the claim is is that Brandon. shows up in a rental car, and the CEO. said that he'd seen footage from that. night, and there was no U-Haul. But then CoffeeZilla apparently found. something else. A parking lot photo from. that very night. He says he zooms in, brightens it up, and he says there was a U-Haul right. outside the store. Corporate, according to him, apparently. changes their story. They say now that. U-Haul was for a camper trailer. It had. nothing to do with the LEGOs. They.

apparently said the ex-employee was. confusing two different events, one from. October, one from November. So, what is CoffeeZilla's opinion? What. is CoffeeZilla's conclusion? After all. the math, the sales records, the. layaways, the offsite storage, the side. deals, he estimates, it's his opinion, there is. only about $10,000 to $20,000 worth of. LEGOs that are completely unexplained. Here's the bigger problem. Even with. everything accounted for, CoffeeZilla. claims that Brian Menzel is still out.

about $50,000 to $83,000 that he was. never compensated for. But instead of resolving that, it it. seems, by all accounts, Bricks and. Minifigs has taken another path. According to CoffeeZilla's video, the. company is now suing Brian Menzel for. $1.3 million. He claims the company has chosen an. aggressive legal strategy. That's a. quote, "aggressive legal strategy." And. told them personally it was a quote, "horrible idea." His advice?

Says it in his video. Drop the. aggressive legal strategy. You are a. LEGO store at the end of the day. You. are supposed to be about fun, not about. a rerun of suits. Now, their. counterargument would probably be, "We're being harassed. We're being. targeted. We're suffering here. We got. to take the law into our own hands.". Whether it's a. a criminal action, or whether that's a. civil action. So, where are we? Ben is. essentially silenced, right? His finale. on all this investigation locked away, seemingly indefinitely. But, here's the thing about a story this. big. It doesn't just stop because one.

person can't talk. I said this is viral. In American Fork, Utah, the city at the. center of this entire controversy, residents were reportedly showing up to. a public meeting. And it's not to talk. about LEGOs. It's not to talk about. YouTube. It's to talk about their police. department. On June 9th, the same day. that Ben had posted his final message, the city of American Fork held a council. meeting. Routine agenda, budget items, property taxes, a proposed fitness.

center renovation. But, one by one, citizens reportedly walked to that. podium and steered the conversation. somewhere else. >> Our police department in March went on a. crusade. against an individual, and he now has. legal rights to sue the city. The police. chief then went on and on a media. release. and lied to the public. >> That was just the beginning. Speaker.

after speaker came forward describing. what they called a pattern of. misconduct, a traffic stop Ben went on. the record saying was a lie, court. papers allegedly falsely represented as. served, a raid on an Airbnb that was. captured here on police body cam footage. where multiple people were taken into. custody or detained, and another. resident called for an outside. investigation saying the department has. a history of protecting itself over. protecting constitutional rights. >> The American Fork Police Department is.

fond of saying we do things differently. here, and they're right. And we see it. here today as they have weaponized. public records to manipulate narratives. and shield themselves from scrutiny. When rights are violated and trust is. broken, I think of the wise words the. artist's grandson said, "Our thoughts, our prayers can't bring back what's no. longer there. The silent are gone. >> [clears throat]. >> Just having thoughts and prayers won't. fix this. It is time for this council to. do something differently. Stop shielding. the [snorts] AFPD and it initiate a.

formal independent third-party audit. >> So, what happened? I mean, the council. members listened, but they didn't. announce any investigation. They didn't. announce taking any action. And before. we even get to where things are, I will. tell you the American Fork Police. Department has their own version of. events. In a public statement that was. released after the body cam footage went. viral, the department addressed the. growing online controversy. Here's what. they said. >> I understand that many people following. this situation online have strong. feelings. regarding the underlying business.

dispute out of Oregon. and allegations that individuals may. have lost significant amounts of money. I recognize that people are frustrated, angry, and may feel that justice has not been. served in relation to those allegations. Those concerns are understandable. Our responsibility in Utah. was not to determine who is 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. We remain committed to enforcing the law.

fairly, objectively, and transparently, regardless of who is involved or what. narrative may exist. >> And Brian Mansell, he's apparently still. waiting. There's a question about the. GoFundMe money, right? The over. $400,000, is it at risk? Episode 3, still unreleased. The city council, you. know, what are they going to do? We. don't know what's going to happen next. This is a very unpredictable situation, but I'll tell you one thing, we're going. to keep following, we're going to keep. watching, and we're going to keep.

reporting. That's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us, and as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcast. You can also check us out. on NBC's Peacock [music] as well. If you. want to follow me, X, Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday [music] through Friday, 11:00. p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.