Alleged stolen Legos worth $200K triggers public outcry, accusations of wrongdoing against Utah police. Here’s why folks are so furious

What started as an effort to help a family recover a valuable Lego collection has spiraled into criminal charges, allegations of police misconduct and a growing online backlash against local law enforcement.

“The police are making it impossible for us to sue them,” Schneider said.

Here’s what Schneider says happened — and how people are responding.

It starts with a YouTuber using ‘legal loopholes’ to try and get a Lego collector justice

This saga started on May 21, when Schneider uploaded a video called “I tracked down the thief who stole $200,000 of LEGO.”

In the nearly hour-and-a-half long video, Schneider says he was contacted by Bryan Mansell, the son of Lego collector Erin Mansell. Mansell recently tried to sell his father’s $200,000 Star Wars Lego collection through an Oregon-based Bricks & Minifigs franchise.

His Lego sets were offered on commission: The store would sell the sets, then pay the family back 90% of the profits. Until the sets were sold, they were still legally owned by the family, but they were stored in the Bricks & Minifigs shop.

Then, the franchise’s ownership suddenly changed hands. The collector’s son says the new owner refused to give the Legos back.

“He’s like, we’re gonna keep these, you’re gonna walk away from this, you’re not coming back, and, if you choose to sue us, we will drag this out in court,” says Mansell.

The rest of the video shows Schneider attempting to get legal justice for the family. His methods are diverse; he convinces a store worker to give him the owner’s phone number, he tries to use a lottery to convince the police to investigate, and he brings ten different cases against the store to small claims court.

Bricks & Minifigs did not respond to Moneywise’s request for comment.

“In a lot of my videos, I’ve always come up with, like, legal loopholes to do good things,” says Schneider in an interview with lawyer and YouTube personality John H. Bryan, who runs the channel The Civil Rights Lawyer.

He says he’s used to being sued for his videos, but he generally doesn’t run into issues with law enforcement.

“I’m used to kinda being buddies with the police,” said Schneider. “I’m under the assumption of like, ‘oh, the police are here to protect us.’”

Schneider says that the police are helping the store owner cover up the crime

Schneider’s small claims cases were successful. But the store permanently shut down before it could pay out the money, which Bricks & Minifigs says was due to stalking and bomb threats from Schneider’s videos.

Schneider took the lawsuits to the owner personally, flying to his house in Utah. Before he could talk to the owner, Schneider says he was subject to an illegal traffic stop — his friend, who was driving, was pulled over for not stopping at a stop sign.

Schneider’s video shows a police officer going up to the car’s driver and saying, “So, who’s Ben?” before leaning down, looking into the backseat, and saying, “Ben, how’s Utah?”

Later, police searched Schneider’s car for heroin for three hours, saying they received a call alleging he had drugs on his person. Despite finding nothing, police continued to insist that Schneider and his friends were lying.

“You’re walking a very dangerous line,” a police officer said. “We play differently here.”

He also had his house raided; when he asked why, he said police wouldn’t tell him because he would “use that for clicks and likes on your YouTube video.”

The American Fork Police Department did not respond to Moneywise’s request for comment.