YouTuber Reckless Ben could face 15-year felony charge in explosive final Lego documentary
The Bricks & Minifigs (BAM) controversy appears to have reached its apex, with Ben "Reckless Ben" Schneider finally allowed to release the third part of his lengthy documentary series on what he claimed was over $200,000 worth of LEGO 'stolen' by one of the company's franchise stores.
In the video, titled in a way to suggest that BAM's ownership attempted to arrest him to prevent its release, Schneider claims that part of the lawsuit currently lodged against him could potentially involve a second-degree felony, which holds a punishment in the state of Utah of up to 15 years in prison.
Schneider, alongside Bryan Mansell – the original owner of the Star Wars LEGO sets that were entered into a consignment arrangement with the Salem, Oregon Bricks & Minifigs store – are both subject to an ongoing lawsuit that involves a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by BAM.
Both the plaintiffs and the defendants attempts to have this converted into a preliminary injunction, which would have modified the terms of the order, but the case's judge denied this and it was subsequently moved from state the federal court due to the amount of money at stake and the origins of individuals involved in the lawsuit.
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Following Schneider's attempts to speak with Bricks & Minifigs CEO Ammon McNeff at the company's headquarters, however, law enforcement have discussed the possibility that the YouTuber could be facing an additional felony charge relating to his failure to vacate the premises after being asked several times.
Why is Reckless Ben facing a second-degree felony charge?
The original complaints allegedly sourced from Ammon McNeff, who Reckless Ben directly communicated with at the corporate headquarters in the incident that's at the heart of the complaint.
Police appeared to highlight to McNeff that another code fit his situation involving Schneider, and this was deemed to be 'aggravated commercial obstruction', which is deemed a second-degree felony through Utah Code § 76-9-114.
"The police just told Ammon that, even though there's absolutely nothing to his claim against me," Schneider alleged in the video, "if they work together, maybe they can fabricate some type of charge against me."
Police then outlined the 'tricky' part of this charge, as they have to prove that the individual – in this case, Schneider – "entered or remains unlawfully on the premise," which appears to directly related to the number of times that the individual was asked to leave.
McNeff appears to claim that he, alongside other BAM staff, repeatedly asked Schneider to leave the premises and that the YouTuber refused to cooperate, but Reckless Ben himself shared video evidence that he claims contradicts these allegations.
What has Reckless Ben said about the potential charge?
Sharing footage of two separate conversations (including one with McNeff), Reckless Ben argues that while he was asked to leave on separate occasions, these were accompanied by requests that would implicitly require him to stay or continue talking to BAM management.
After leaving for the first time, staff can be heard asking if they should 'go and grab' Schneider to keep talking to him, which the YouTuber interprets as being that he 'left too early' for them.
Moving onto his direct conversation with McNeff, the CEO did initially ask Reckless Ben to leave, indicating that he would call the police both if he refused to comply and if he returned at a later date, but then allegedly invited further conversation after Schneider asked if he wanted to do things 'the easy way or the hard way'.
The 'easy way' in this case was to hand over the LEGO that he claims to own, whereas the 'hard way' was presumed to be a legal challenge, but McNeff took the former to be a threat.
He then asked Schneider for official documentation proving that he owned the LEGO sets at the heart of the controversy, which the YouTuber deems to be contradictory and crucial to the denial of the prospective felony charge.
"But right after he says [to leave] he's now asking us to provide him proof that we actually are entitled to these LEGOs, so we can't leave now because he just told us to stay and provide proof."
After he discovered the discussion of the potential for a second-degree felony charge, Reckless Ben declared:
"Yes. Because I went to the corporate headquarters and tried to give Ammon the easy way out of all of this, they're now trying to get me on a second-degree felony, which I don't really know how any of this would make me get a second-degree felony, like what the heck, police officers."
Bricks & Minifigs responds to Reckless Ben video
Bricks & Minifigs has issued a response to UNILAD Tech following the latest video from Reckless Ben, outlining its position in reference to ongoing law enforcement investigations and information shared by the YouTuber.
"After Bricks & Minifigs contacted authorities respecting the safety of its customers and team members following months of increasingly concerning conduct by third parties, law enforcement conducted an independent investigation," the company outlined.
"While some criminal charges were apparently filed, the company understands the investigation is continuing as new information becomes available. The company continues to cooperate fully with the authorities, but has no discretion regarding any charging decisions.
"While Bricks & Minifigs expects inaccurate or incomplete information to continue to be published on social media regarding the private civil matter, it intends to resolve its separate civil lawsuit through proper legal channels."