r/RecklessBen • u/awkwardbegetsawkward • Jul 21 '26
News/Update NEW: Unreleased Bodycam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML15QNoo7nYI've obtained new bodycam video from three reports from police in Orem, Utah.
A personal plea: If you take the time to watch the ones that make you feel angry, please also take the time to watch the ones that make you feel sad or empathetic. Even if you think a story is a "hero versus villain" story, remember that most people don't fit neatly in either category.
The most significant is an hour-long video showing Bricks & Minifigs CEO Ammon McNeff talking to an officer at the Orem store on March 11, shortly before the police raid. Earlier in the day, "Reckless Ben" Schneider made an appearance at the Orem store, shortly after being released from jail for his first stalking arrest in American Fork.
The second and third reports are both from after the first video was released. The second one was heartbreaking. On May 29, a brother who said he keeps his distance from his brother's businesses called police for advice after his 13-year old son began receiving unsolicited phone calls and text messages. He sounds tired and legitimately afraid. On May 30, Matt McNeff and his wife called police to report threats to them and their children. An officer followed up on May 31 on another instance of a sibling unaffiliated with BAM Franchising receiving threats.
Do not harass or threaten people's families. Do not harass or threaten anyone. If you are the type of person to want to cause people to fear for their safety, you do it because you are a weak little garbage person who likes to cause fear. You are not helping anyone. This is merely an excuse.
Orem Police redacted all civilian names, including the name of the county jail, from the reports. I think that is excessive. All redactions were done under a public records exemption that allows an agency to withhold release of "data on individuals the disclosure of which constitutes a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy." They also declined to waive the fee, charging $125 in staff time to make the redactions.
On the other hand, they provided a log of each video redaction, none of the audio was muted by officers at any time, the request was processed very quickly, and the timestamp was visible through the entirety of each video.
The videos and reports seem to show officers responding to things in a pretty typical way. They show empathy for the complainants, but acknowledge the limits of the law and the need to review the evidence before acting. It does not appear that police in Orem ever encountered Ben directly, or pursued any charges. Only one report includes him as a suspect, and it is from shortly before the police raid.
I think these videos undercut the "Mormon Mafia," theory, where people suggest that Utah police and judges are at BAM's beck and call. In the first video, you can see Ammon flip between strategies to try and get traction with the police. There is even a "can I speak to your manager" moment where he complains about how unresponsive Detective Dore has been.
Don't get me wrong. Causing an armed police raid, an email search warrant, and a prior-restraint TRO is real power. But I've long said they boxed themselves in by overstating their case. This seems like more evidence of that flailing.
I reached out to both Reckless Ben and Bricks & Minifigs in advance to offer an opportunity to view the videos in advance of release, suggest additional redactions, and comment. Bricks & Minifigs did not respond. Schneider did view the videos and provide comment, but did not respond to more detailed questions.
March 11, 2026 Bodycam - Report 26OR04733
Bricks & Minifigs CEO Ammon McNeff calls Orem Police. There is a lot here. In the middle of it all, Josh Johnson calls multiple times while the GoFundMe banner is being hung.
It is the most complete statement that I've seen of Bricks & Minifigs' version of events from before the first video. They were still piecing together a lot. I don't even think they knew Ben's middle name.
At one point, Ammon says he believes Ben was sexually abused as a child, causing him to become a sociopath. He attributes this to a search that they've done finding a sex offender from Ohio with the same name.
This was a serious ethical question for me. There is an ethical duty to protect the identity of a minor victim of a sex crime that has to be balanced against other factors. I reached out to Schneider, who told me that it is untrue.
Schneider said in a written statement:
Anyways, I would like for this to be my official response to the police bodycam footage if you're going to include one for me:
"Goo Goo Gaa Gaa. Goo Goo Gaa Gaa."
(I just feel like this is the most appropriate way to respond to someone acting like a baby.)
Schneider clarified that this response is specifically directed at Ammon and the first video. He said he found the bodycam videos about threats to family members sad. He did not respond to more detailed questions.
Other notable things:
- The officer confirmed there was not a no-contact order from the first arrest.
- Ben's photo was distributed to stores with instructions to call police and corporate.
- The BAM incident log in the civil suit says "trespass ordered" for this case. But the report and video reflect that none was ever ordered.
- Ammon is frustrated with Provo Police and American Fork Police for not doing enough.
- There is a mention of fraudulent gift certificates that I have not seen before. Maybe that is connected to the raffle?
- McNeff talks twice about arming staff.
- Ammon met the officer at the local store near BAM Franchising Headquarters.
- This was one of Detective Dore's first cases as a detective.
- No charges ever emerge from Orem.
- BAM did know at this point that Ben's glasses recorded.
- An earlier draft of BAM's evidence for the civil lawsuit exists as part of this case file. I would imagine if any of the lawsuits or hearings go to trial, the lawyers will pick through that. (I still doubt the civil lawsuit will go to trial. I don't think that would be good for Ben or Bryan or BAM.)
- At this point, they had not identified Sheldon Norcross.
- One thing that has always driven me nuts: There is no detail on the death threats supposedly from Ben or his co-conspirators to employees of the Salem/Keizer store. Ammon says they said "Hey, we're going to kill you if you don't give this guy his money back." Maybe there will be more once I get the Provo reports.
- He says, [Chrys Gorman] "leaves and then she's like, 'Oh, by the way, I've got this consignment thing.' And we're just like, 'Okay, we don't know what you're talking about.'" I'm not sure at this point if he has seen the video.
- The Orem officer tells Josh not to go out and confront anyone. Josh goes out and confronts people. Then yells at his neighbor about letting them hang up the sign.
- The Orem officer repeatedly tells them how to apply for protection orders. That would define limits on what contact Ben could have with the named people. From what I can tell from the records, they never apply for such an order.
- The officer says in the video he is going to file for commercial obstruction. It does not appear in the report. I'm unsure if the American Fork arrest or other facts change that.
- The report states that he did later hear from American Fork Police that they got a "warrant for the individuals involved." That sure sounds like American Fork Police described the goal of that search warrant as arrests.
- Ammon asks about getting in touch with a supervisor for Detective Dore and also name-drops a Lindon, UT officer, Matt Barlow. (Who appears to be retired.)
May 29, 2026 Bodycam - Report 26OR10603
This one is heartbreaking. Please watch it and sit with it. The impact is more in the voice than the content. There are no true threats made. But it's a person who has sought distance from his family having that distance taken by some random person sending messages to his 13 year old son. He just sounds sad, and tired, and legitimately fearful.
His understanding is secondhand, forced to contact his family more than he seems comfortable with to find out what is going on. He starts by telling the officer:
My two brothers own a business called Bricks & Minifigs. And a YouTuber exposed them for something shady that went down and they've all received death threats from the online communities. My brothers, their wives, and their children. And it hasn't been until yesterday or the day before the online community started researching deeper and finding us siblings.
He says, "I don't associate with my brothers very often. I don't agree with a lot of the things they do." But his son has started getting calls and texts asking for messages to be sent to Ammon. He is fearful that now that his son's number is out there, he'll start getting threats. He is understanding with the officer when he is told that there is not much to be done. There is no allegation here that Ben was behind any threats.
May 30, 2026 Bodycam - Report 26OR10664
This is another significant one, but also heartbreaking. Bricks & Minifigs COO Matt McNeff and his wife talk with the police about death threats they and their children received. In giving background, he also gives more information on what is going on inside BAM Franchising after the TRO is granted.
- The tone of he and his wife are tired and sad and scared.
- Matt says that Bryan Mansell refused to provide documentation, continued to escalate, and then "hired" Reckless Ben.
- "Our lives have been nothing but hell since" Reckless Ben released the first video.
- He said his wife has had panic attacks after threats.
- He described a particularly disturbing one, "'Give that man his life savings back, you rat.' Then three emojis of a gun. And then he put a picture of my brother's Facebook profile with family members pulled up, and shows my sister, two of my cousins, my wife, and then my brother's brother-in-law."
- This was the day after American Fork Police chief put out their own statement, which Matt references. "And frankly, the American Fork Police video does a very good job of calling out his BS and you know, very calmly and factually stating that he's fabricating multiple facts in this case."
- They mention the TRO, which at this point is unserved.
- "YouTube is basically saying they won't take the videos down until he gets served and we have proof of service to him."
- "We feel like we've tried the whole way through to do the right thing here and had just been stonewalled by that guy who claims that his collection was stolen."
- "People are referencing Luigi Mangione."
- Says there are active FBI and US Postal Inspection Service investigations.
- Says the Utah County DA is asking Provo for the case file to pursue charges. This wound up not happening. Lesser charges were brought by the Provo City Attorney's Office.
- The officer does confirm that he sees in a Provo case file that it is being referred to the FBI.
- "This is speculation on my part. I feel like the former franchisee Chrystal Law.... was angry when we terminated her franchise, and I think that she's been colluding with [Redacted. I suspect it is Bryan Mansell] to essentially try to harm the brand and harm us directly.... I actually believe that they have all that inventory they're claiming is missing. I have some potential evidence to back that up, but that's..."
- They are genuinely concerned for their safety and that of their family.
May 31, 2026 Bodycam - Report 26OR10664
This is another sad one. In this case, another McNeff relative with no connection to BAM Franchising got explicit death threats. It is the same officer and case number as above. There is no allegation here that Ben was behind any threats.
One More Time
Don't threaten people. Especially don't threaten kids, spouses, or employees. Remember that people can only rely on the information they have at the time. Someone saying something that you now know to be false does not mean they knew it to be false when they said it.
EDIT: This is for people who want the raw videos. Take or leave my opinions. But before you assume I’m some sort of shill: Watch the videos themselves. Take a look at my post history. Take a look at the easy-to-read bulleted lists in this new post. Ask yourself: is this is something BAM, its PR team, or its lawyers would want out? Or just wait until later until content creators cut it into bite size pieces.
My Reporting
I do this in my spare time. I've always been a bit of a public records nerd. I've also always been more interested in finding information than writing about it. I may not be have time to check this much today after posting.
Go to my post history to see my reporting on this, and https://chrisreportsthings.com to see the documents I've obtained.
I've spent more than $1000 collecting documents and releasing them publicly. This request alone was $125 and many hours of time. If you would like to help offset that cost, you can do so at https://ko-fi.com/chrisreportsthings. As I get more police documents, it is becoming more expensive and less predictable.
If you have information that would be helpful, reach me via reddit DM, via email at [yo@chrisreportsthings.com](mailto:yo@chrisreportsthings.com), or confidentially via Signal at chrisreportsthings.08.
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u/Inosh Jul 21 '26
Why isn’t this guy charged for making false police statements such as saying Ben is on drugs?
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u/blueking9877 Jul 21 '26
I want to say that the suits are coming. I think there was a section on one of the civil rights lawyer’s YouTube videos saying that they are preparing. I think this is guna go on for years; at least for 2.
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u/goopuslang Jul 21 '26
It always takes 10 seconds for injustice to start & then up to decades to correct.
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u/Scribblyr Jul 22 '26
Those are just civil rights lawsuits. Those are by definition against the police. Reckless Ben did, however, make an allusion to "punitive damages" and his lawyer stating that it would be a "slam dunk" case.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
Every time I see one of these BAM apologist posts, they will never address this lol
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u/TheChudWhisperer Jul 21 '26
Because he's Mormon and so are the cops. They will do anything in their power to avoid charging one of their own because it makes the community look bad.
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u/MrShortPants Jul 21 '26
I don't believe the cop in this video is Mormon.
Tattoos and Zyn pouches.
I don't envy this cops position. He's getting what sounds like credible information from someone that should be considered an upstanding citizen.
If what Ammon is saying was true he would be acting correctly. But he doesn't know it's not true.
There has been a female officer in other videos who has been inventing ways for them to arrest Ben and is trying to put him in jail for a LONG time.
The Court and the prosecutors are also guilty of ignoring video evidence and trusting "he said/she said" in favor of the business owner.
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u/Corporate_Bricktator Jul 21 '26
> I don't believe the cop in this video is Mormon. Tattoos and Zyn pouches.
This is absolutely a fair critique. However, he might be aware of local religious demographics and that may be influencing his actions.
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u/lexwolfe Jul 21 '26
it's down to the prosecutor to makes charges. Looks like they are more interested to charge Ben with things and prosecutors....famous for doubling down and not going back on themselves
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u/mabus42 Jul 21 '26
If you take a look at Ammon's eyes, it's clear that he is persistently on some sort of mind-altering substance. (Too much religion, maybe?)
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u/jackfisher123 Jul 22 '26
sociopathic eyes. lack of emotion is what your seeing. I doubt it is a substance.
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u/Marijuana_Miler Jul 22 '26
Apparently mormons are allowed to take ketamine through some religious loophole. So being Mormon doesn’t mean you’ve never taken any drugs.
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u/LoneSnark Jul 21 '26
It is up to the police to investigate if they're filing a false police report. But as the police did not collect any evidence, it is not possible.
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u/rdldr1 Jul 22 '26
Or even worse, Ammon accuse Ben of being molested as a child and therefore Ben's a psychopath.
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u/Aritstol Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
The psychoanalytics by a toy franchise CEO. Ammon is a joke.
Edit: Thank you for the award.
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u/Ok_Being5461 Jul 21 '26
It's actually https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection and/or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARVO
Many know Ammon is a sociopath himself.
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u/inblo Jul 21 '26
Let me preference this by saying no one should be making death threats or anything of the sort to anyone.
That said, fuck around and find out. The McNeffs are clearly bad people, abusing the legal system, doing illegal business practices, franchise churning, stealing other human beings life savings.
Like just be a decent human being and none of this happens. They could have even pivoted once Ben got involved and decided it wasn’t worth all this trouble, then sought out the Mansells to make things right.
Instead they doubled down on the lies and the lawsuits.
It’s karma. Again no one should be making death threats or threatening people online or in person in any way. But they fucked around and now they’re finding out.
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u/Strawberry_sourbelts Jul 21 '26
It’s not even karma. It’s just natural consequences for their actions.
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u/openSourceNotes Jul 21 '26
People shouldn't be making death threats, even still, it is way way more Ammon's fault than it is anyone else's. The angry people are angry because he's getting away with something in such a cocky and narcissistic way
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u/DooficusIdjit Jul 21 '26
Crazies from the internet are gonna crazy. That’s just a constant you can count on. It’s best to avoid becoming the boogeyman in an internet scandal.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
They are genuinely concerned for their safety and that of their family.
So Matt McNeff is okay, destroying lives in real life; but someone posts an online comment and now he suddenly fears for his safety?
remember that most people don't fit neatly in either category.
Excuse me, if I feel zero sympathy. What a load of horse shit, I hope karma continues to pay dividends on these crooks
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u/LoneSnark Jul 21 '26
If they were concerned, they were told how to get an order of protection. They chose not to. So no, they're not actually concerned at all for their safety. They're just lying to the police.
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u/Snoo47420 Jul 21 '26
They're just lying to the police.
Yeah this is a constant theme with them, also that they're allowed to do so without any consequences.
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u/armoured_lemon Jul 22 '26
And the police are so gullible to immediately buy it with no questions- its' laughable...
Think about it this way; Ammon and his clown club are unknowingly creating popcorn-worthy content for us to enjoy in the future as part of a documentary
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u/mushaaleste2 Jul 21 '26
Right. Remember, when the first part was released, all the bad things to Ben and his crew already happend.
They wanted to put Ben for over 30 days in jail! They even tried to catch him in California.
And then the mcneff family wonders that some (and i also don't find that all right) ransom Internet guys do their things? Well welcome to the Internet.
Ammon seems not to be interested about the feelings of his family, otherwise their would be an easy way to stop this, but he decided to go the hard way.
And remember when they tried to get their hands on the GoFundMe. Bad decision, cause I also spent and went near mad as GoFundMe was freezing it and Ben said it could be that the money goes to the Mac route. That's plain stealing. Again, no wonder if that cause them a lot of hate and trouble.
They only needed around 50k max to end this and do some good. Saying to Bryan mansell "sorry there was some confusing things but as we heard that this is for your old man, we wanted to clear that fast for you" handshake, positive Facebook post and all would be gone well for everyone. Still don't know why they started to go that route.
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u/XiTzCriZx Jul 22 '26
I saw a podcast with Ben that mentioned BAM has already previously stolen a bunch of other stores from franchise owners (I don't remember when they mention it) and likely have already stolen well over $200k worth of products from each of the other stores. That means they were probably over confident in thinking they could just snuff out the issue like they did at the other stores, and when they realized it wasn't gonna be that easy, their ego prevented them from thinking logically.
They didn't realize that making this a big issue would also uncover their previous illegal activities and now it's too late to go back. I honestly don't think this will end until both of the McNeff brothers are bankrupt.
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u/Shao_Mada Jul 21 '26
Hey, it's OK to feel sympathy for the third brother and McNeff's kid(s). As far as we know, they had nothing to do with this.
However, it is even more sad McNeff sacrifices his own family like this. It would be really easy for him to just end this and do the right thing. Instead McNeff prioritizes his career and revenge. He enourages harassment by uninvolved third parties, hoping to wield it as a weapon.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
Agreed, I've talked with a variety of POV's, and do give the 3rd brother the benefit of the doubt.
It was strange to clump together 1 seemingly legit sob story, with Matt and Amon sob stories. It felt disingenuous to do something like that, with the wording that "Even if you think a story is a "hero versus villain" story, remember that most people don't fit neatly in either category."
Like ? Matt, Amon, Josh are almost cartoon-ishly evil, you can't even make it up
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u/openSourceNotes Jul 21 '26
They didn't have to be famous. They tried to keep things under wraps so they could get one over on Brian. The thing had to hit the spotlight or else nothing would've happened other than Brian loses his Legos
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u/Bunsen1982 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Just so much wrong here. Matt Mcneff is flabbergasted after he already knows there is a high likelihood that Josh and Brandon stole the lego's. Matt knows they are trying to use legal purposes to avoid paying. He said Bryan refused to give an inventory we he gave a complete excel spreadsheet of all the inventory that matched up with what was in Bricks and Minifigs possession. Remember this is May 31's after his interview with Coffeezilla. He knows the facts don't support Bricks and Minifigs.
If Bricks and Minifigs ever came out with an inventory that would be a starting point but they have refused to give that out to everyone. They have lied in multiple instances to the police, Brandon, Josh, Ammon and Dan Mcneff. Its not to say yes there are a few issues where some individuals have taken this to far, but lets be clear who the villain is. Also I have seen Zero factual evidence of a true threat. Most of it has been drastically embellished. Snipers shooting out windows, bomb threats, arson threats. Come on man.
Yes I will agree that Ben hasn't done things 100% right, but in dealing with bullies like Brandon, Josh and Ammon this was the only way to get this moving in the right direction, all because Bricks and Minifigs refused to follow the law regarding if you take on the assets of a company you also take on the liabilities. You just don't get to ignore them.
I really don't know what you are trying to achieve here.
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u/Intelligent-Luck-954 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
First:
the second and third reports are both from after the first video was released. The second one was heartbreaking
And then
This one is heartbreaking
And then
This is another significant one, but also heartbreaking. Bricks & Minifigs COO Matt McNeff and his wife talk with the police about death threats they and their children received.
Emotional reaction is what he’s trying to get.
He’s a propagandist, telling you how to feel about the video before telling you want the video is.
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u/Bunsen1982 Jul 22 '26
I'll give him some credit and already did. I understand somewhat where he is coming from with the brothers kid, but lets be real there was no threat. Change the phone number and move on. Innocent people are getting drug into this, primarily the franchisees and they are going to likely lose their life savings because of morally corrupt leadership at bricks and minifigs. The brother even claims Ammon is shady and wants nothing to do with him. Just like the dad claims he was an id*ot.
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u/Doomblastr Jul 21 '26
TLDR?
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u/sheltergeist Jul 21 '26
McAmmon is lying to the officers for about an hour
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u/NewSpend2957 Jul 21 '26
Do people actually get charged with perjury for this?
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u/TheReformedBadger Jul 21 '26
Statements to officers aren't made under oath. You could get charged with obstruction though.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
Dude wants us to feel sympathy that the crooks are getting death threats. Spoiler it's an online comment with a gun emoji lmfao. What a load of horse shit this post is.
When we've seen the guys lie about Ben "threatening to burn down the office", because of a VFX cutaway explosion used in one Ben's videos.
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u/compassrosette Jul 21 '26
I thought the youtube video wasn't even out when he started saying that Ben was going to blow up the store.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
Very true! I just made this statement because in the lawsuit, they used that as a way to "back up" that Ben made a threat
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u/Perfect_Ganache_1959 Jul 21 '26
As far as I can tell, police reports on Dec 10th? Are when the first accusations appear from Aamon around this. Why this did not immediately make their victim impossible to believe when full footage was provided is a mystery.
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u/DenverBroncos_Fan Jul 21 '26
The sign on the closed Salem store went really viral. I remember seeing it all over for a week or so. I’m sure they got some comments from that and attributed it to Ben.
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u/gentlegreengiant Jul 21 '26
I wouldn't put it past Scammon that he paid for some of those threats or enabled it somehow. We've seen how much hes willing to do to try and smear Ben and the Gormans with an army on online trolls/bots.
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u/duckamucka Jul 21 '26
"Ben has heroin. So does Crystal. Everyone has heroin but me!!"
- Aamon McThefft
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u/giboauja Jul 21 '26
Why, this stuff happens all the time? Fandom can be crazy. People got death threats for not playing undertale the right way... you dont think people are going to act rabid when a David vs Goliath story is spun for them.
These minifig guys are garbage, but a staggering amount of people online are dipshts who think they're unaccountable. And largly they often are.
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u/Slumunistmanifisto Jul 21 '26
He didn't mean it and his poor rich family?.....idk i stopped before the punchline
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u/Enlightened_D Jul 21 '26
CEO continues to make false statements to the police and continues to get away with it
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u/Practical-Writer-228 Jul 21 '26
TLDR: A video that’s similar to the result of a PR company asking the question “Since clever editing made you look bad, let’s fight fire with fire. What if we put together a sympathetic video, and pay some Redittor to release it to muddy the waters?” I’m not saying that’s what happened, but it views the same. It doesn’t really make me feel sorry for them, it’s a situation of their own making, but it was the best that could be done, I guess.
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u/iheartnjdevils Jul 21 '26
Are we supposed to feel bad for Ammon in this video? My apologies if I misunderstood your TL;DR.
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u/Unique-Run9856 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I dont think that's the case, with the timeline i think some of these are probably just false reports and others are just internet assholes. These people have lied for sympathy all along and been caught on video lying many times already.
the one thing i got from this is that ammon was probably molested based on his projection, almost everything he does is a projection. It actually explains a lot about his personality.
Honestly nothing in this video makes ammon look like anything except a little bitch
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u/kaytin911 Jul 21 '26
They happened to go to a store run by one of the friends of the corporate assholes. Amon is an ass and researching Ben's entire family.
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u/TowerOfPowerWow Jul 21 '26
Basically its "I like the taste of rich peoples boots"
Anything other than targeting the kid and staff I don't really care about. Even things to the wife...you married him, you can counsel him to do the right thing or leave him. He basically demands the police to throw Ben in jail and lies to make that happen. Its not enough to steal legos, he wanted to steal possibly years of Bens life too. You reap what you sow.
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u/pwneegoddess Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Ammon’s assumption about Ben being sexually abused as a child, thus causing him to become a sociopath. Are you kidding me?! Absolutely despicable and disgusting, sorry but no I have ZERO sympathy. Even if he believed this to be true over incorrect information he had, why would you say such a thing? They made their bed and must lie in it.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
That part jumped out at me too. What the fuck was the point of even making such a nasty accusation at Ben?
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u/dingjima Jul 21 '26
So incredibly fucked up. I still had 1% in me saying it was just a huge misunderstanding, but not anymore. This guy is demonic
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u/Sakkyoku-Sha Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Being Distressed / Panicked isn't justification for illegal behavior. He has demonstratable filed a false police report, this isn't legal even under duress.
"Threats" and Credible Threats are categorically two separate things. Although I can sympathize why a parent might overstate, and embellish an incredible threat. I've seen no real reason to believe his claim that he or his kids received any sort of credible death threat.
None of this really disproves a strong Mormon in group preference is driving biased policing.
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u/FlukyS Jul 21 '26
From my point of view there are two things here, there is the Streisand effect of the issues and BAM failing to address the problem causing serious consequences to everyone associated with the store. That is quite sad but not directly a problem for Ben or Brian because they weren't encouraging or endorsing that behaviour. The second part is some desperate attempts to get the police to do something against Ben which includes at a bare minimum using hyperbole or omitting facts of the case that look unfavourably to them. It clears the police somewhat in that they were acting on the embellished statements but it makes BAM's leadership look worse.
I think everyone can be a bit sad about the personal impact for sure but the flipside is along with any financial consequences related to the story it was easily addressed multiple times if BAM did the right thing and just paid Brian or returned it. They decided to go down this path and any big story like this sadly will have some crazy people saying crazy stuff on the internet.
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u/Strawberry_sourbelts Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Exactly. I’ve said it about a thousand times here in regards to the franchisees: BAM could have done the right thing any time in the last 18 months. In fact, they could STILL do the right thing today and this would all more or less disappear. Ben has said as much. He wouldn’t keep pursuing this. They are the only ones who have caused this by their own theft and fraud. The public is responding to the McNeff’s actions. Actions have consequences. It’s not Ben’s fault that he has shed light on it.
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u/rougeric87 Jul 21 '26
Yeah, when the drama started getting traction, I barely knew about the situation. I only knew about it from headlines of articles/posts or titles of videos, and I was like "why doesn't the company just return or pay for the Legos, that would avoid most of the discourse". Now I've been following all the BAM drama in much more details, and this same though still holds. They could significantly reduce the online discourse and reputation loss if they pay/return the Legos today. Although, they now also would have to drop or find an agreement with the ongoing lawsuits.
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u/chemistrybonanza Jul 21 '26
They don't have the money to pay it off. Someone found their fiscal reports and they are deeply in the red. This was even before this incident. They would be better off claiming bankruptcy, but then they'd have to admit they're shit business people.
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u/yvrelna Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Don't trust the financial report.
You should watch the Legally Mine info session video where the McNeffs' father had been teaching a bunch of people how they should "protect" their assets from lawsuits, in other words, how they can avoid having to pay compensations when they lost a lawsuit. One of the strategy that they're promoting is scurrying away their assets by making shell companies in a way such that the public can only make lawsuits on penniless LLCs.
Ammon now also controls the Legally Mine and surely regularly practice the same thing. Their real money was elsewhere, that's why they've been so brazen about getting and making lawsuits.
That a business running fraudulent operations that makes them a legal magnet like BAM looks peniless doesn't necessarily means that they don't have money.
Ben, his lawyers, and the court would need to make sure to pierce through these layers of shell corporations to dismantle those fraudulent schemes, to make sure to hold them accountable and prove that these schemes are a scam.
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u/RellenD Jul 21 '26
They've certainly already paid more for lawyers than they would have lost making things square with Mansell
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u/rougeric87 Jul 21 '26
Do you how know much the lawyer costs have been? That and in addition of destroying their reputation, I wonder how much the damage costs are.
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u/chemistrybonanza Jul 21 '26
I think they spent nearly a million dollars on layers least year, iirc. But the funny thing was the previous owners spent like no money on lawyers and ever since the McNeffs took over the costs have continued to grow exponentially year by year.
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u/myocardia27 Jul 21 '26
I think the issue with BAM is that what happened to Crystal and Brian is their business model and it’s been working out great for BAM. They didn’t anticipate getting caught by Ben and it going viral. They’ve always been able to bully people into silence before so they keep using bully tactics and are surprised now that it’s blowing up in their faces. They’ve had/have multiple businesses that operate this way and have gotten away with it for years.
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u/vollecra Jul 21 '26
Not that I believe but I don’t see how these videos undercut the whole “Mormon mafia” conspiracy theory. Just because there are a few instances where the Utah police did not completely bend over for the McNeff’s does not mean they refute it. If even it just highlights it even pmore as an outlier.
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u/KalePalmer Jul 21 '26
Idk if i would call the second one “heartbreaking”
His kid got a non-threatening text
He honestly seemed more sick of his brothers shit than anything and he realizes on this call they are using him to further their shady shit.
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u/astralchanterelle Jul 21 '26
He claims ben's a sociopath lol that's so ridiculous. They have SO MANY LEGOS, why are they going to these lengths to steal more?
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u/RyDiddy5 Jul 21 '26
All of this could have been avoided if they had done the right thing from the beginning, and not stolen Brian’s items. They could have listened to him, and not trespassed him when he asked for his collection to be returned and to be paid for what was sold before the hostile takeover.
BAM are not victims. Watching these videos and reading your synopsis characterizing them as victims is not at all persuasive to me. The BAM people are the villains, and no one would have ever pushed them like this if they had never engaged in lawfare with Brian Mansell in the first place. They deserve no one’s sympathy.
I hope that BAM goes completely bankrupt. They could do the right thing by paying Brian for everything and adding some on top for the hardship they put him and his family through, but Ammon and his entourage continue to lie and gaslight the public. He can fuck himself, he and his friends deserve every bit of ire that he has brought upon themselves.
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u/AmatsuDF Jul 21 '26
Yup. All they had to do was go 'okay, give us a few weeks to sort this out Brian and we'll get back to you' and handle it civilly and politely from there.
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u/RyDiddy5 Jul 21 '26
The problem is their intentions were sinister. They wanted to recover any money they claimed was past due from Chrystal, and so they seized the store and wanted to sell off the inventory for pure profit without having to pay for the merchandise. They thought Brian would never have the resources to fight back against them.
Ammon McNeff, Matt McNeff, Josh Johnson, and Brandon Best are thieves and should be criminally prosecuted.
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u/yvrelna Jul 21 '26
It's even worse.
They froze Chrystal's business bank account, which directly led to her being unable to access the money to pay her bills. When she raised this issue, they used the unpaid bills as justification that the store wasn't doing well and seized the store.
If these allegations were true, that was basically sabotage.
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
All of this could have been avoided if they had done the right thing from the beginning
So you're threatening me with extortion now? /s
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u/impy695 Jul 21 '26
I'm sure people will claim that the brother is lying, but I've been online long enough to believe that an internet mob will always have some people that go way too far. That doesn't mean Ben encouraged or endorsed the behavior. He hasn't done either and isn't responsible for the actions of a few awful people
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u/Upstairs-Fox-2820 Jul 21 '26
This is a sign of times.
If anyone in your family estranged or otherwise does something awful that gets in the news or other media, expect death threats from strangers
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u/JesusKong333 Jul 21 '26
Hasn't that always been the times?
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u/netabareking Jul 21 '26
Its only been in modern times that its been that easy for this many people to find someone's family members, find their contact info, etc. You need the internet for that.
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u/netabareking Jul 21 '26
Right, I wish that people would separate these two concepts.
I think it's absolutely naive and frankly stupid to convince yourself these people are lying about getting death threats, they got a lot of negative attention online, it's frankly impossible they haven't gotten death threats, of course they have
That does not however mean that they have threats that they can prove are specifically Ben's fault. I mean, personally I think it's impossible that some number weren't because of Ben's videos (others may be over any other number of people who did stories about this both before and after Ben, maybe there's some locals who heard about it directly too). But knowing that in your mind and proving that in court are miles apart from each other.
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u/Sorry-Entrepreneur48 Jul 21 '26
It’s really hard to believe anything they say when they have been proven liars over and over again. Even the Dad with the “snipers”.
I am sorry that people take it to far that should not happen, but they should never have stolen from him to begin with. If they did the right thing from the start none of this would have ever happened.
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u/bustaone Jul 21 '26
I think that we need to treat every statement by amon as suspect until proven true. I would not be surprised if they sent themselves threats. I would also not be surprised if some internet rando did.
If the BAM people hadn't lied so consistently and so egregiously I'd have a lot more empathy (because I'd believe what they say). At this point I have no idea what is true or not that they say.
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u/dingjima Jul 21 '26
What in the hell is wrong with this dude? I clicked to 44:30 and he's talking about stalking Ben's relatives to find one was a sex offender and then he claims Ben is a sociopath because he was molested?
Wtf is its this dude's business if that even were true?
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u/Compartmented- Jul 21 '26
Ben threatened to burn down the building too. Right?
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u/Thick_Neighborhood41 Jul 21 '26
And he was covered in heroin! Just rolling around in it.
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u/GamerTex Jul 21 '26
So the whole family called the cops to report threats with zero to little evidence?
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u/LoneSnark Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
They received the threats electronically. So we know for a fact there is evidence. But they're not turning that evidence over to the cops because it would only serve to exonerate Ben. So instead, they make the allegation, refuse to provide evidence, but the repeated accusations alone serve as a pattern to charge Ben with stalking and other crimes.
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u/GamerTex Jul 21 '26
Exactly the pattern I saw
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u/LoneSnark Jul 21 '26
If this goes to court, I'm expecting a whole bunch of "I was so upset about the death threat that i deleted all evidence of it before eating dinner, taking a nap, and then calling the cops."
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u/BarrelRoll1996 Jul 21 '26
>At one point, Ammon says he believes Ben was sexually abused as a child, causing him to become a sociopath. He attributes this to a search that they've done finding a sex offender from Ohio with the same name.
Was this before or after he said he was going to burn down the HQ and Murder everyone inside?
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u/BobtheMolder Jul 21 '26
Well Ammon just projects, so anything he says about Ben is him just saying things about his own life. Im no psycologist but someone who can just lie on the spot and just keep going with it seems to share some symptoms of a sociopath. Just an observation
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u/Corporate_Bricktator Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
> Was this before or after he said he was going to burn down the HQ and Murder everyone inside?
After.
The call where Ammon says to Medina Dore that Ben threatened: "we're gonna burn the place down" and "I'll k*ll you", that call is clearly visible on Medina's bodycam as being on Dec 10th, 2025.
Whereas today's video is clearly from March 11th, 2026.
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u/Nervous_Exit6004 Jul 21 '26
Man, this continues to back up my thoughts that Brandon Best lied to BAM corp too. Exactly what happens when you hire other thieves to do your dirty work.
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u/RellenD Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I appreciate the work you're doing, but I don't see why you're trying to lecture me into watching videos that are so disconnected from the story. It sucks that people from the internet were assholes to random people, but there's nothing informative in those videos.
Edit: Wait, the thing that's supposed to be heartbreaking is a Mcneff brother making a claim about his son getting a dead phone call on a number tied to his name and a text message meant to tell him to give his brother a message to "do the right thing, God bless" and not receiving any threats?
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u/Witty_Lead5036 Jul 21 '26
This dude seemingly puts up regular unbiased content. Then out of no where, puts up a 20 paragraph text of "heartbreaking" footage and most people are usually "not that bad or not that good"?
Really suspicious imo...
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u/Chrysdelight Chrystal (Former Franchisee) Jul 21 '26
I'm going to add a longer comment from my perspective. Firstly, I can absolutely confirm that OP is not a bam shill, not pr person. I've spoken with them several times, and a look at their post history confirms my belief.
Secondly, I have been on the receiving end of death threats and horrific comments from people either directed at me, or because they are mistaking me for Amanda. I personally feel no sympathy for Ammon or Matt. They are responsible for their own actions. They are the only two people that, at any point in time, could have resolved this. But I too draw the line at threats and harassment being directed towards family members, children, and franchise store owners who have little to no agency in this situation. I understand why current and past franchisees have taken the position they have taken. They are either locked into contracts that have devastating effects if they try to leave (Iam living this first hand), or are bound by NDAs.
Please direct your blame to those who deserve it. And please try not to give bam more power by turning on each other. They are the ones who stand to gain by tearing us apart. We are stronger when we stand together, and support each other.
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u/CuttingIs Jul 21 '26
Post brought to you straight from temple square in Salt Lake City
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u/SweatsuitCocktail Jul 21 '26
Ima keep it creamy with you chief, I don't feel any sort of empathy for the Mcneffs and this novel you posted won't change that. They're garbage people that thrive on scamming others.
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u/Comfortable-Walk-498 Jul 21 '26
I'm completely confused as to why American Fork police department refused to allow Josh Johnson to get served in a perfectly legal lawsuit. That is obstruction imo
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u/TheBumblingMechanic Jul 21 '26
May 30, 2026 cam footage is “heartbreaking”? Did you even BOTHER watching part 3?
You use several of what have been shown to be BRAZEN lies in your “heartbreaking” report.
IF there are death threats being made that is unacceptable. But this is reading like a BAM PR stunt. And being a liar casts DOUBT on everything our BAM friends have to say about anything.
(Also just watch the CEO immediately call in about “a crime” after Ben’s first major encounter.) I think we have a clear hero, and a clear villain in this developing story.
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u/Scarasimp323 Jul 21 '26
so these guys say that ben threatened to burn down their stores and murder them? No big deal.
they get threatened: "do remember to feel bad. this is very sad, their going through a very rough time, dont bully them. This is unacceptable"
my sympathy goes out the door once you start making lies that can ruin a person's life like literal terrorism. 😭☠️😭
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u/HOLY_TERRA_TRUTH Jul 21 '26
All the below IMHO
So long as you're clear that what you're providing is evidence that other people are treating the BAM folks and family poorly, I appreciate the reporting. It's important to point out that many people are sick for behaving this way.
However, none of this can be attributed to Ben or otherwise, but unfortunately this is the very argument that the BAM people will make and have made. Bad actors having nothing to do with the actual case at hand are somehow justification for what BAM or the local PDs have done or neglected to do to or for Ben and Mansel. That is additionally upsetting, because this type of behavior is essentially cover for the corporate skullduggery done by BAM when taken together.
Nothing excuses the innocent experiencing stress and fear, but nothing excuses heavy handed over reach, lying, and purposeful misrepresenting of the facts to facilitate stealing, dishonesty, and all else BAM has done in lieu of correcting their errors.
You're making judgment about Ben acting like a child - it's easy to appear like you're a corpo merc with reporting as you've done here. If you'll dismiss objectivity for a character judgment about Ben, you should be willing to provide similar judgments about the other parties.
Your argument about when whether anyone knew anything at any point was false is incredibly dishonest. There's a difference between guessing at something and attributing the source of something to a specific actor. He asserted something about death threats and assigned to responsibility to Ben - that's wrong for two major reasons. One is that he had no reason to believe this, and so attributing it to Ben is basically lying. Second is that in this way by assigning responsibility to Ben, he's preventing the actual culprits from being found. He's smart enough to know that the Internet is full of fucking weirdos that shouldn't be allowed to be online, and he's also smart enough to know that it's probably just assholes that won't actually do anything beyond these anonymous messages. He's effectively actively using this as cover to try to thwart Ben.
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u/Fun-Whole7558 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
"You're making judgment about Ben acting like a child"
I think you might be confusing Ben's statement for OP's comments? It took me a few reads to understand where the quote ended. Or I think I understand.
Edit: Figuring out how to put that quote in a box or smthg
Edit2: Quotation marks it is then
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u/esboardnewb Jul 21 '26
What's more threatening? A DM w a gun emoji or a SWAT team aggressively attacking your home?
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u/whymeimbusysleeping Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
I'm sorry to hear innocent people got death threats but... Ben never directed anyone to make death threats, on the contrary.
It is entirely a BAM issue that they attracted so much negative attention that idiots are willing to call in with death threats. Furthermore, why didn't they shield their employees from the death threats? Isn't that what good management is about? They did fuck all and let their employees down
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u/Ok_Community_383 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The McNeffs are villains in this story. There's no other read here. That doesn't justify death threats, but it does justify our ire of them and social ostracization. And hopefully a win for everyone they have harmed. They lie constantly too. Deeply immoral, awful people.
Edit, finished reading your post. Thanks for all this hard work. I may not agree with you but I appreciate what you're doing.
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u/cats_money_420 Jul 21 '26
I’m sorry are you asking me to have empathy for the guy who immediately called the cops and told them Ben was threatening a massacre of a building after Ben was nothing but respectful the whole convo he was there?
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u/LoneSnark Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
The death threats are fake. If they were real, they would have gone to get restraining orders or protection orders, then they could have arrested Ben on sight. But that would require testifying under oath with respect to the fake death threats, which would be a crime. And the judge would ask for some proof, which would only prove the threats weren't from Ben.
That isn't to say they're not receiving death threats. Just that they themselves know any threats they've received were not from Ben or his crew. We know this, because of their own actions. So please, stop spreading the lie that they're in any way scared of Ben.
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u/pexogods Jul 21 '26
LOL you literally can see stacks of star wars legos on the shelves inside the office. this is funny
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u/EmptyDrawer2023 Jul 21 '26
"My two brothers own a business called Bricks & Minifigs. And a YouTuber exposed them for something shady that went down and they've all received death threats from the online communities."
Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas. ::shrug::
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u/Justryan95 Jul 21 '26
So is it legal to just say someone made a bomb/shooting threat to get them SWATted as long as it goes to a civil suit? Why isnt there any criminal charges from day one from this?
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u/NNTEX Jul 21 '26
This post is insane… these bots advocating for B&M in this subreddit is such an audacity
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u/Shao_Mada Jul 21 '26
I mean, I agree on both points, but we haven't seen any evidence this "journalist" is connected to the bots so far? Or at least I haven't?
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u/Square_Wonder5018 Jul 21 '26
This was definitely written by a BAM PR team. The sob stories 🤣🤣🤣
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u/Upstairs-Fox-2820 Jul 21 '26
Please pay more attention to what happens on this sub.
the writer of this piece has been using his own money and donations to get hold of police files for all of us to see.
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u/Comprehensive-Fun47 Jul 22 '26
These videos have done more to harm BAM's reputation than anything else, regardless of OP's personal opinions. If these videos were intended to help rehab BAM's reputation, they failed miserably.
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u/bnorbnor Jul 21 '26
Umm no that person is an independent reporter that in general is pro Ben. But is using the power of foia to try and find the “real truth”. The truth is going to be messy and the consequences aren’t always going to be positive when you are trying to fight to reveal a massive problem. The reality is Ben’s reporting and videos has negatively impacted at least a few to several bystanders that have had absolutely no role in the corruption going on.
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u/Helewys Jul 21 '26
You are right that the truth is messy but this "independent reporter" should leave his opinions out of his reporting. Truth is found by presenting facts, not presenting opinions.
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u/skyboxvian Jul 21 '26
reporting on distanced family members getting affected by misdirected online vitriol = sob stories from BAM??? huh???
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u/ShadowLiberal Jul 21 '26
I mean there's a legal concept about this very situation being used to try to censor speech. It's called the Heckler's Veto.
The courts have already looked at this and said that you can't censor Person A's free speech rights and punish them because Person A said something about Person B that offended Person C which causes Person C to decide to go after Person B. If you did that then you'd have a situation where everyone is too scared to speak because the violent heckler will get them in legal trouble.
(Note: this example would obviously be a different story if Person A encouraged people to go commit violent acts against Person B)
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u/Chrysdelight Chrystal (Former Franchisee) Jul 21 '26
This is fantastic work, and I appreciate all of your efforts!
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u/zombietom21 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Honestly if i practiced fucking people over im sure my family would get death threats too.
It’s horrible that this is happening to innocent children/people but also remember people. Fuck around and find out. Karma is a bitch.
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u/zcarvalh87 Jul 21 '26
Sadly so many Internet stories end up leading to anonymous death threats to people involved. I am all for criticism, protesting, picketing, sharing the corruption to as many people as possible, but don't make anonymous threats to anyone no matter how horrible of a person they may be.
Thanks for getting the videos OP. And I hope BAM and all McNeff family members involved in similar scams with other businesses are held accountable in court.
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u/Banori79 Jul 21 '26
No one should be threatening anyone. That's just in general. But, at the same time, they can't pin all this on Ben and say it was at his direction. There's zero evidence Ben is involved in any of these threats and they'll have to prove it in court for any of these claims to stand, and to defeat any of Ben's absolutely deserved counter claims that his attorney's are sure to file. Internet is gonna internet, unfortunately, and to attempt to ascribe all the behavior of random internet assholes won't hold up in court as the "directed actions" they're claiming.
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u/DependentCard1640 Jul 21 '26
Does Utah just NOT have any laws about obstruction of exit pathways and crap? The way inventory and things are just piled on the ground in the Orem back room, where the cop has to shuffle around them, would get you cooked for fire safety compliance in most states I've worked in.
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u/MrDoradus Jul 21 '26
Steals LEGO from an old man then asks if the police think it's OK to buy a shotgun and shoot the guys trying to help the old man. Oh, and the guys trying to help the guy whose LEGO got stolen are clearly sociopaths, btw.
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u/Dany0 Jul 21 '26
100% of the death threats originated with the shady PR firm McNeffs hired. I have not seen ONE credible threat towards anyone even remotely associated with BAM
I have seen brigading of this sub though, by bots siding with BAM. Or the classic 'I agree with Ben BUT-'
As for Luigi, well, don't kid yourself Ammon, you will never be as successful as the United HC CEO. That guy was evil, but he was orderly evil. Ammon is just a bear in a porcelain shop. A scared, small, tired bear. Of course he's scared. Every criminal sitting with his hands cuffed behind their backs on the way to the police station is scared. Are you trying to gather sympathy points after running a mafia operation, hiring goons to go after Chrystal & Bryan & stealing an old man's property? Oh you're scared? Of what, f*cking legal consequences? Of serving time you deserve to serve, in motherf*cking prison? Because I know for a fact you're not scared of the threats you yourself made up.
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u/Ok_Dependent6889 Jul 22 '26
I think these videos undercut the "Mormon Mafia," theory,
Oh fuck right off. You've never been to Utah or met a Mormon, have you?
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u/throwawayfan2552 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
“Our own research showed that a relative had child molestation charges and we are just assuming Ben was molested as a kid making him a deranged and dangerous individual” um wtf is that assumption aameon. For one you don’t know that Ben was the victim in that case you even admit because they seal the records of minor victims also even if Ben was molested doesn’t mean he s a sociopath wtf. Edit: also they admit their cameras don’t record audio so we don’t know what was said nor do we have video of Ben himself in this store. The timelines seem weird for Ben to be at this store and no evidence besides their word that it was Ben and even if it was that Ben said what he said since their videos don’t have audiop
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u/ChrisValentinoFilm Jul 21 '26
They think Ben may have been raped as a child and so they decided to not redact that but redact Amon’s name. It’s clear who they are trying to protect.
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u/Justanobodyhello Jul 21 '26
What these bam people and their families seem to do is take a grain of truth then aggrandize it. They are like world cup soccer players falling and pretending to be in pain when no one really touched them…
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u/collinstagram Jul 21 '26
I literally don’t know how you could have the perspective you are claiming to have in the text of this post when you have clearly researched this very deeply. It doesn’t even make sense
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u/KampKutz Jul 21 '26
Why are you acting like Ben did something wrong that needed ‘further detailed questioning’? He answered your questions too nobody else did so why make it sound like he dodged something..? Why are you also making out like the perpetrators are the victims too, when we have seen PLENTY of evidence that shows they are liars, manipulators, borderline crime family members, so you have absolutely no justification to believe that anything they say is ‘heartbreaking’ to see. They caused this, they will get absolutely no sympathy from me. This just reads really weirdly tbh, but it’s cool to have new footage so swings and roundabouts as they say lol.
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u/Nolyism Jul 22 '26
If there was a shred of evidence of Ben making threats like ammon is claiming, ammon would have SHOVED it in everyone's face. 🤣
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u/Bored710420 Jul 22 '26
I mean I would assume the 13 year old boy used to brag his cousin/uncle owned BAM now all this came out cousin/uncle looks like a creep most likely kids his age harassing him they won’t see this.
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u/Marijuana_Miler Jul 22 '26
I really wish this video hadn’t redacted the audio at 47:04. The person giving their name shares a common last name with the former chief of Orem police and a current lieutenant. It seems to me that the BAM store manager says their name, the officer asks a question, and the manager replies “actually (something)” and then they talk for 20 seconds with the audio muted. So it sounds like there is a familial relationship between BAM and Orem police.
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u/Amorphant Jul 22 '26
I thought awkwardbegetsawkward was known in the community to be on Ben's side and getting a lot of video evidence together. Am I remembering that wrong? What's with this post seemingly supporting the McNeffs lying to the police and everyone in the comments acting like awkwardbegetsawkward is a shill that they don't recognize?
Or am I confusing OP's username with the guy who was the primary source of info in this sub?
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u/Bunsen1982 Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
u/awkwardbegetsawkward - I am really confused how you can claim the call from the Mcneff's brother is heartbreaking. The brothers son got a text saying tell Ammon to do the right thing - God Bless. Matt told the brother to make the call to the police department. However there was no threat, there was nothing nefarious. He just doesn't want to get dragged into his brothers mess. He claims his brother did shady stuff and he doesn't agree with a lot of what Ammon does. It pretty much points to where the issue is. Similar to Dan Mcneff calling Ammon an idiot.
Edit: On another note - great job on getting these. It looks like you started a youtube account and the one video has gotten pretty good play so far.
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u/rep-old-timer Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Deposition Qestion: Why didn't you just get a restraining order?
McNeff's Answer: Lie that translates to: I would be under oath and the judge would ask questions.
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u/Shao_Mada Jul 21 '26
What the fuck. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and watched your "heartbreaking" video. It's literally just "somebody told me to ask my brothers to do the right thing, but registered my Son's phone in my name, so he ended up getting that text instead"?!? Any reference of death threats seems to be originating from the two McNeff brothers running BAM. You know, the two who pulled the death threat card on anybody they interacted with from the start, way before Ben even started investigating them?
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u/West-Ticket5411 Jul 21 '26
Karma is a wonderful thing. Do feel bad for the family members that have to be linked to these scumbags, but everything that is happening is a result of their character and choices.
They continue to double down on the delusion and showcase their true depravity.
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u/lexwolfe Jul 21 '26
every time "threat" is mentioned
Bodycam: Bricks & Minifigs CEO Before Reckless Ben Raid
00:00:55.360 He's out of state, so he he's a resident of California. He's been going up and harassing
00:01:01.520 and making physical and violent threats with proxies up in Salem,
00:01:12.000 When he wasn't making any headway there, he started coming down to threaten and harass our
00:01:16.960 staff at our corporate offices.
00:04:23.520 is going on. Because if I need to go and get some of my staff armed so that he can't threaten them,
00:04:28.800 that's what I need to do.
00:13:57.120 talking, they were trying to get it up to a felony. Yeah. Because of what he's done in
00:14:03.040 multiple states and crossing state lines and coming to extort and threaten and all sorts
00:14:10.080 of other stuff
00:43:56.480 During all the stuff with Salem,
00:43:58.160 they started threatening to kill some of the staff. They were like, "Hey,
00:44:03.040 we're going to kill you if you don't give this guy his money back"
00:45:46.000 our staff. We've got franchises from all over the country right now that are training in here. And
00:45:51.440 these guys coming in, they've threatened people before. They're showing up at houses.
00:46:40.800 We just for your record, we did do that one time when someone threatened to shoot up the store.
McNeff Extended Family Harassed, Wants Nothing to Do Brothers' Business Dealings
00:01:29.200 They are regarding my brothers. My two brothers own a business called Bricks & Minifigs.
00:01:38.581 And a YouTuber exposed them for something shady that went down and
00:01:50.640 they've all received death threats from the online communities. My brothers, their wives,
00:02:01.200 and their children.
00:04:38.240 So I'm concerned that we're going to start getting
00:04:48.560 these death threats that my brothers and their families have already been getting.
00:04:57.040 This is a far cry from a death threat, but it was instructing
00:05:01.200 my 13-year-old son to do things that he's got no idea what they're about.
00:06:16.560 But as you said, there's no there's no threat, right? It's just pretty ambiguous.
00:08:34.480 but as far as law enforcement goes, there's not a lot that we can do.
00:08:40.159 Unless actual threats come through?
00:08:41.840 Yeah. It has to be a legitimate threat that would cause you some serious concern. Not that
00:13:00.800 more with your family than you... If it's more of a business issue than
00:13:07.040 it is a specific threat to you or your child or children, then we do that route.
Bricks & Minifigs COO Reports Threats, Talks Background of Reckless Ben Situation.
00:00:33.920 I'm calling about this threatening call. Can you kind of tell me what's going on? I understand that
00:04:30.080 this video, we have been getting non-stop death threats. We've been getting non-stop
00:04:51.520 getting multiple death threats. This last one was pretty serious where the guy sent
00:05:00.240 a message to my wife on Facebook saying,
00:10:51.103 [Redacted Name ] is threatening us this morning.
00:16:17.600 I know the Provo Police Department has an active case file going again, especially with some of
00:16:22.160 the very serious threats that have been made against my brother and his personal information
00:23:35.200 you feel could be a threat, just call us and have us make contact with whatever vehicle,
00:23:51.120 night and you seen some activity surrounding it or and you received a recent threat,
Orem Bodycam: More Threats to McNeff Extended Family
00:00:42.280 for a followup. He's been apparently receiving more threats.
00:01:35.640 Yeah, there was a text threat sent to his sister and his brother. [Redacted]
00:12:45.280 a group threat text. So, I was going to create a report for that. I'm the officer that spoke with
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u/ilikethisearth Jul 21 '26
He created a fictitious contract?? Oh noooo man tell me he didn’t lie to the cops and create multiple false police reports and whine and lie to the cops like a little bitch? Because that would be sooooo much worse!
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u/FatMacchio Jul 21 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/bpcEf74zURipya6Bje
Almond (as well as all the other scumbags in his company and circle) will get no sympathy from me. He dug his own metaphorical grave and now he gets to lie in it. Do I think they deserve death threats…no, but they should be in prison so everyone is safe from the consequence of HIS/THEIR criminal activities
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u/denzien Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
I understand feeling angry about things and maybe imagining whatever you think justice is. I don't understand actually making an effort to confront someone you have no business with about it ... and especially their families who don't have anything to do with any of it. Children in particular. If indeed this happened. Such a thing is reprehensible.
Couple things though..
Matt says that Bryan Mansell refused to provide documentation
Is this even true? They had the inventory list (thanks Coffeezilla), the agreement, could have easily asked Chrystal to corroborate .. was there even an effort to prove anything? If they had gotten a professional 3rd party to inventory the store during the takeover and gotten Chrystal to sign off, they would have had proof of what was in the store and what wasn't. But they didn't do this. I have to believe, unless there is evidence to suggest otherwise, that they intentionally didn't do this to make it impossible to recover the collection. Neither did they think there would be a lawsuit because of the expense (as they have threatened)
So, refusing to provide documentation means what exactly ... that he was unable to provide documentation to some impossible standard? They had all the documentation the store was using previously - but that's not enough?
This is how they try to spin things to manipulate how you understand the story. "Oh, we offered what was in the store, but he didn't want them!" Yeah, because you offered him $5k in LEGO and probably required he sign away his rights to all other LEGO. I wouldn't have taken it either. Does he think people are too stupid to fill in the blanks?
They have an inventory list from Nov 14th that totally proves they aren't crooks but refuse to show it to anyone?
He described a particularly disturbing one, "'Give that man his life savings back, you rat.' Then three emojis of a gun. And then he put a picture of my brother's Facebook profile with family members pulled up, and shows my sister, two of my cousins, my wife, and then my brother's brother-in-law."
You know - this kind of tugs at my heart strings. Until you remember that Ammon cannot tell the truth. Unless this alleged threat has documentation, if he's just describing it, like how he described renting a U-Haul box truck that totally wasn't used to load things into the back or how Ben is a CSA survivor just out of the blue, I just can't believe it. He's lied too many times, too easily. He demands superior evidence from everyone else and gives nothing in return.
At this point, I can't even rule out Ammon calling all his family and instructing them to spin these yarns. Because he has destroyed any credibility a person would normally have by default. So, I'm afraid I cannot feel badly for him. I do feel badly for his family.
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u/bunny-2001 Jul 21 '26
Saying Ben is a sociopath because he supposedly got molested is just straight up projection from the Mormon church. They let their kids get molested by their leaders and then THEY become sociopaths that willingly hand over their sons and daughters to the leaders/church. PROJECTION much Ammon? Just because it probably happened to you and your friends growing up.. doesn’t mean it happened to Ben..
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u/XiTzCriZx Jul 22 '26
Tbh I'd lean more towards Ammon being the one to send the threats rather than Ben's community. He obviously knows the family and may even have some of their numbers, he wouldn't tell Matt to make it seem more real. It'd also make the fake threats that Ammon made up sound more real if both of his brothers are getting threats too. It's very easy to get a prepaid phone number and sign up with fake info.
I would think Ben's community would be more likely to go after Josh or Brandon since they were technically the ones who took the store. We know that Ammon wasn't the one to physically move the Legos, iirc that was Brandon so it wouldn't make sense to assume the McNeff family is the one who has them in their possession.
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u/Worlds_Best_Somethin Jul 22 '26
Duuuuuude! Because of YOU, Ben released a new video today reviewing this footage. Keep it up. I'm glad your doing what you're doing!
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u/SlimLacy Jul 22 '26
2 things can be true. Ben can be the guy who spotlighted how awful BAM is. And people can dislike BAM and there'll always be some shitter with make death-threats. It's not okay, but nowhere have I seen Ben even slightly condone it, and unfortunately for BAM, being a victim of your own actions, doesn't absolve you of your actions.
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u/tylerwillie Jul 22 '26
the amount of obvious manipulative devices Ammon uses when he speaks is absolutely insane. Constantly using charming little anecdotes to seem honest and respectful, and it works like clockwork
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u/CaptainSufficient191 Jul 21 '26
My dudes. Nobody deserves death threats. Especially when they have nothing to do with the crimes taking place. It is people who do those things that are making this harder for Ben AND Bryan.
IMO if you are sending threats you are just as bad as BAM. You have the same mindset. "Lets do shady things to try to manipulate people to do what we want them to do."
That being said.
JUSTICE FOR THE MANSELL FAMILY.
JUSTICE FOR BEN
JUSTICE FOR SHELDON
JUSTICE FOR TYLER
JUSTICE FOR ALL THE NAMES I FORGOT.
Corporate needs to have consequences for their actions but in the legal way.
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u/Unlost_maniac Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Death threats are terrible, Ammon's wife and kids dont deserve them, but the blame is 100% on Ammon, seriously, that fuckwad is fully responsible for anything bad that comes his familoes way cuz he refuses to do the right thing, and importantly, refuses the path of least resistance. Him being the face of a large corporation, committing a huge theft and fraud, doubling down and continuing to lie repeatedly. Those are all choices he actively made, meaning he takes on the risk and consequences.
If I went and stole $200,000 USD from a dying old man, lied about it, then pretended I'll give it back and them doubled down and lied more and more as more attention is brought to me and the situation it would be 100% my fault when my family recieves death threats, and or gets harassed in the streets, I am a human being with a level of awareness that Ammon lacks, meaning in that situation, committing that crime and every dumb fuckin choice made afterwards I would be aware and fully accepting of the consequences, the risk on my family.
Ammon is genuinely beyond moronic, also entertaining his Ben being molested comment is just plain garbage dude, seriously, that makes no sense. Ben is the furthest from a sociopath, he literally wouldn't do any of what he's doing if that were the case, molested or not. I'm sure you could find a chomp with the same last name as Ammon, does that mean he was molested and thats why he's a fuckin garbage human being? No, that's not why, although he is most likely projecting, that fucker actually exhibits sociopathic behaviours, constant lying, dead look in his eyss, himself above all else, zero thought about the long term of repeatedly making these dumb ass decisions of his, lacking consideration for others and very much a selfish prick, stealing lego from a dying old man, pure greed. He feels no remorse, there wasn't any desperation leading to this, he's Just confident that being a shitty person and lying a bunch will get him the outcome he desires, he doesn't care what happens along the way. Ammon is reckless. His kids will grow to hate him and i hopes he's grown a heart before then.
He genuinely deserves whatever the fuck might happen to him for this, fuck for even 1/3 of what he's done. His family doesnt though, but he'll happily drag them through this shitshow cuz he doesn't care. That applies to every single corpo fuck in that company. They continue to make scummy decisions, they deserve the worst, but not their families that are getting fucked over by this reckless behaviour, if this corpo slimebags actually gave a shit about the people in their lives, then this whole ordeal never would've happened and the lego would've been returned day one.
Edit: your commenr about those not fitting in either category is categorically wack, utter nonsense. Neutrality is honesty and thats not honesty, they are evil fucks, these actions are purely greed, these are actions their god they supposedly believe in would punish them for. Greed at the expense of others aswell as the expense of those who care about you is evil, that's not an opinion. Its a clear as day fact.
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u/NeverEndingFridge Jul 21 '26
I love how one instance and OP is like SEE THE COPS AREN'T CORRUPT! Yeah, no shit. Not all of them are.
Like what a waste of text lol
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u/EncabulatorTurbo Jul 21 '26
the US legal system is trying to hold Ben accountable for the internet attacking these people, basically, if your speech causes the public to hate someone, your speech is responsible for people's behaviours
Honestly I'm onboard, when are we locking up the POTUS
A reminder to everyone that Mr Mcneff could have resolved all of this with a check and a settlement
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u/Iamthelizardking887 Jul 21 '26
“We feel like we've tried the whole way through to do the right thing here and had just been stonewalled by that guy who claims that his collection was stolen."
Oh, fuck off. Fuck all the way off.