Josh Johnson is suing Reckless Ben for RICO. Over the phone, he told Matty AppleSeed “I actually do like Ben” and “we got Salem for free.”
Johnson is a plaintiff with BAM Franchising and both McNeffs in the racketeering case against Reckless Ben, a franchise seller named in the disclosure document BAM filed this month, co-owner of the company that took over the seized Salem store, and the complaining witness in the State’s case against Benjamin Schneider, set for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday. On an hour-long call that Matty AppleSeed recorded and published, Johnson said he owes Schneider an apology, that his videos “are awesome,” and that “Ben can go after Bricks and Minifigs all he wants.” He said the Salem store came free, that “Ammon didn’t want to give Bryan his Legos back,” that “they convinced me” to pay a Florida store’s bills for six months, and that “90% of them are underfunded.”
PRIMARY SOURCEMatty AppleSeed (Patreon, YouTube), “1 hour Call with Josh Johnson”, Patreon, posted the night of September 25, 2026, 65 minutes, and a 25-minute cut of the same call on YouTube, “Josh Johnson Told Me His Side | BRICKS & MINIFIGS”, September 26. The call opens with his notice: “I’m just recording for quality and training purposes.” Each quotation carries its time in the 65-minute version on Patreon. Where the YouTube cut includes the line, its YouTube time is given too and links to that moment.
CONFIRMEDWho Johnson is, from the record: a plaintiff in BAM Franchising, Inc. v. Schneider, D. Utah No. 2:26-cv-00593, with BAM, Ammon and Matthew McNeff, Brandon Best and Baker Bricks; one of the franchise sellers BAM names in its disclosure document, including the version it filed this month; co-owner, with Best, of the company that took over the seized Salem store; and the complaining witness, protected by a pretrial order, in the American Fork case against Schneider, whose preliminary hearing is set for September 30.
“I really like Ben, dude”
Four minutes into the call, explaining the day he swore at Schneider on the phone, Johnson said:
“Yeah, he caught me on a bad day and I felt bad. I actually do like Ben. I think he’s, you know, at his heart, he’s trying to do the right thing. And I’m glad that Bryan got, that we were able to give him all his Legos back and pay him, you know, what he wanted. So I am very happy about that. I wish Ben would have just got the Legos when I sent him in there to go get them.”
Near the end he came back to it, twice:
“I wish Ben the best. I feel bad that I yelled at him, you know, that I told him to F off.” (51:04 on Patreon; 2:40 on YouTube)
“He’s been paid a bunch of money, and I feel like I owe Ben an apology for swearing at him, but there’s no way for me to communicate that to him.” (55:44 on Patreon; 23:37 on YouTube)
Matty AppleSeed told him he could apologize right there, on the call. “No videos,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to be on YouTube, man.” (56:01 on Patreon) Then Matty AppleSeed asked the question straight:
AppleSeed“You would say sorry to Ben at the end of the day of, like, swearing at him or treating him the way you did?”
Johnson“Yeah, I feel really bad about that. … I feel bad and I shouldn’t have done that.”
AppleSeed“Alright, well, I’m glad to get your side of the story. …”
Johnson“I really like Ben, dude. Like his videos on the Provo Canyon School and on that guy in California. His videos are awesome.”
A minute and a half later: “I just want to be left alone and done, you know? But Ben can go after Bricks and Minifigs all he wants.” (58:29 on Patreon)
On Wednesday, Schneider goes to a preliminary hearing in the criminal case in which Johnson is the complaining witness and the protected party. In federal court, the complaint Johnson joined as a plaintiff prays for disgorgement of the profits it says were “earned through the LLC,” and lists where they come from: YouTube advertising, Patreon, merchandise, GoFundMe, a podcast, sponsorship and the website (as reported July 2). The videos Johnson calls awesome are the business whose profits his lawsuit asks a court to take.
CONFIRMEDHis words on the call; the disgorgement prayer in the complaint he joined; the criminal case and its hearing date.
“His videos are awesome.” A plaintiff, on the videos whose profits his lawsuit asks a court to take.
“We got Salem for free”
On March 8, 2026, Johnson told an American Fork police officer how he came to own the Salem store. The recording is on this site’s bodycam page:
“So, I work at the corporate headquarters as well. So, Ammon, the CEO, was like, hey, go rescue the Salem store. And, and you can have it for the price of whatever you recover it for. I’m like, sweet.”
Matty AppleSeed read it back to him: “You said to the police, like, you were going to get the store for whatever you could recover it for.” And: “If you’re going to buy the store, it does kind of matter.”
Johnson“No, no, no, no, no, no. So we got Salem for free, right?”
AppleSeed“Ammon just gave you Salem for free?”
Johnson“Yeah.”
AppleSeed“That’s crazy.”
Johnson“Yes. So when I say the sale price is whatever, so if I put, like, immediately I put like 80 grand into it, right? I beefed up the security, I put 80 grand in, right? So then that 80 grand goes towards the purchase of the business. Does that make sense? So there’s no benefit to anybody to take.”
BAM tells it a third way. In the complaint Johnson joined, the company called the Salem transaction an “arm’s-length and legitimate corporate sale” to “bona fide third-party purchasers.” It pleaded that Brandon Best “was engaged as a contracted inventory inspector for BAM,” that the count at the seizure was “an informal and video inventory” done by “BAM’s representative, Brandon,” and that it credited the seized store against the franchisees’ debt at “an estimated $38,000 paltry value” (the count, the credit). The franchisees’ amended complaint dates the purchase agreement March 27, 2025. Neither the agreement nor the count is public.
The bona fide third party, in his own words. To the officer: “I work at the corporate headquarters as well.” On the call: “I was still an employee, right?” (35:36 on Patreon; 8:49 on YouTube). He and Best already had BAM’s Eugene store: “We own the neighboring territory” (9:38 on Patreon). Asked whether the McNeffs had been his friends, he said he and Ammon McNeff had been “mission companions” (31:34 on Patreon). And the disclosure document BAM filed this month lists nine franchise sellers at its Provo headquarters. The first two are Ammon and Matthew McNeff. The sixth is Josh Johnson.
CONFIRMEDHis words to the officer and on the call; BAM’s words to the court; its sellers page.INFERENCEThat they describe one deal: the store’s price was whatever the seizure recovered, the recovery was counted by one of its two buyers, and in the buyer’s own word it came to free.
“Whatever you recover it for,” to the police. “Free,” to the YouTuber. An arm’s-length sale to bona fide third parties, to the court.
“Matt and Ammon”
Johnson’s account of Bryan Mansell’s collection is that he tried to give it back. Matty AppleSeed put it to him that he had wanted to, until Best got on the phone to say it was not going to happen.
Johnson“And then Ammon didn’t want to give Bryan his Legos back.”
AppleSeed“Why not?”
Johnson“Dude, I don’t know.”
He went straight on, and said he knew where the collection was when the store changed hands:
“… once Brandon had showed me the Legos in the cupboard, and we took over the store. … I was still an employee, right? … We didn’t have any authority to give Bryan the Legos, but the second that I signed a contract saying that was mine, like, the first call I made was Bryan.”
Seventeen minutes later, Matty AppleSeed asked why Best had said no.
AppleSeed“But then why did Brandon say no?”
Johnson“Brandon never said no.”
AppleSeed“Oh, okay. But at the end of the day, he told Ben …”
Johnson“Matt and Ammon.”
AppleSeed“Oh, Matt and Ammon said no.”
Johnson“And I don’t really care, like, what they would say, but like …”
Earlier he had put the whole year in one sentence: “Between Bryan, Bryan not wanting it, Ben not getting it when I sent him in there to get it, and then not wanting to give it to him …” (48:14 on Patreon)
The police record covers the months after he signed, and all of it is in the Keizer police file. In May 2025, two months after the purchase agreement, Officer Starns wrote of her call with Johnson that “he does not want to give these items to Mr. Mansell. He added that he also doesn’t feel he needs to, since the store’s inventory became his once he took it over.” To the detective, he said the sets were “sitting back in a locker, where it is going to stay until we fix this relationship.” On December 3, 2025 he texted Mansell offering “the Lego we have set aside.” Two days later the offer had terms: the marked sets, in return for “a signed document from our legal team” in which Mansell would agree to “take down all negative comments and things and stop disparaging us in person and online,” and a “Formal apology from you to all members of our team.”
That leaves two readings, and neither helps the lawsuit. If Matt and Ammon said no after Johnson signed, BAM’s CEO and COO were deciding what the store’s supposedly independent new owner did with a consignor’s property. If the refusal was his, it is the one he gave the police in May 2025 and the conditions his team put in writing that December.
REFUTEDThat once he signed, he moved to hand the collection back: in May 2025 he told police he would not, and his written offer that December came with conditions.ASSERTEDThat the refusal was the McNeffs’: “Ammon didn’t want to give Bryan his Legos back,” and later, “Matt and Ammon.” His account.
Matty AppleSeed asked whether Best might have walked away with “all the Cloud City and all the other best sets.” Johnson: “There’s no Cloud City.” (50:28 on Patreon) BAM’s own filed ledger of Mansell’s consignment lists two Cloud City sets at $4,000 to $10,000 each, both unsold, one on layaway (the ledger).
REFUTED“There’s no Cloud City.” BAM’s own filed ledger lists two.
What Mansell wanted, in Johnson’s telling, was “$150,000” (7:57 on Patreon; 6:39 on YouTube), and he put a threat in Mansell’s mouth: “I’m going to get a YouTuber to ruin your life.” Then: “That’s the situation I’m in.” (13:43 on Patreon; 6:44 on YouTube) He said it ended well, with Mansell’s Legos back and Mansell paid “what he wanted” (4:16 on Patreon). BAM sued Mansell for extortion, then apologized and agreed to pay, and asked the court to erase every claim against him. The last public word from Mansell, on August 20, was that he had not seen the deposit yet and had none of his Lego back.
UNRESOLVEDWhether Mansell has his collection back and has been paid. The settlement’s terms are not public.
“They convinced me to invest”
Salem was not the only store. BAM sent The Last Relic, the Wesley Chapel, Florida franchisee, a termination letter dated December 12, 2024, and Best and Johnson incorporated Wesley Chapel Baker Bricks Inc. the same day (the Florida corporation). Johnson’s account of what came before:
“… instead of terminating a franchise agreement, let’s find a way for Josh and Brandon to revitalize that store. Dude, I lost like 80 grand on Wesley Chapel. … I paid that kid’s payroll for six months.” (20:41 on Patreon)
“And so, I got sold this story that if I invest in the recovery of this store, that they’ll work out a deal with me and that kid, whatever his name is, … he’ll have to pay me back. … So I paid the bills for six months. $80,000 down the road, I’m like, this isn’t going anywhere.” (21:25 on Patreon)
“I know my part. They convinced me to invest in it for six months before I said this is … enough.” (28:35 on Patreon)
He called himself “the financier to these things” (25:15 on Patreon): “Like, if I have an opportunity to invest in a store, you know, participate in the recovery, and then we have a good store on the other end, I mean, it’s a risk, right? I took a risk.” Asked to confirm $80,000 lost on Wesley Chapel and $160,000 on Salem, he said: “At least, yes.” (28:49 on Patreon) The man who put at least $240,000 into two seized Lego stores also said: “I don’t even give a shit about Lego.” (17:28 on Patreon)
Then Matty AppleSeed asked about The Last Relic’s account of what the McNeffs did to him.
Johnson“That sounds probably about right about what Matt and Ammon, you know … I mean, don’t make this public, my opinion.” (25:49 on Patreon)
AppleSeed“So you think Matt and Ammon did Gabe dirty?”
Johnson“Oh, probably. I mean, I don’t know.” (26:08 on Patreon)
AppleSeed“… And then they just stole the store from him and never put any money into marketing.”
Johnson“Yeah, probably.” (46:59 on Patreon)
He also blamed The Last Relic: “Business is risky, and the dude had a crap location” (45:01 on Patreon), and “a lot of these bad franchisees, they don’t want to take accountability and look in the mirror” (45:22 on Patreon). And on BAM’s stores as a whole:
“I honestly think though the problem with the stores is 90% of them are underfunded, right? So if you come in and you inject a bunch of money into them, people buy Lego.”
BAM’s disclosure document, which names him as one of the people who sell its franchises, tells every prospective buyer: “The total investment necessary to begin operation of a Bricks & Minifigs™ franchise is $303,500 to $597,500.” Of those figures, it says: “We relied on our principals’ combined expertise when preparing these figures.” Its seller says 90% of the stores are underfunded.
CONFIRMEDHis words; the Florida registry; the disclosure document’s investment figures and sellers page.INFERENCEThat the “they” who sold him the story and convinced him to invest is the franchisor that terminated the store on the day his corporation was formed.
“90% of them are underfunded.” A seller named in BAM’s disclosure document, on BAM’s stores.
“We didn’t sell anything”
“And like I said before, every piece in that collection has now been accounted for. And there’s nothing missing. … We didn’t sell anything. It’s all been accounted for.”
Four minutes later, on the layaway: “I said a lot of things to that police officer. I yelled and screamed at her. So there was like two or three sets that were on layaway. It’s all been accounted for.” (14:16 on Patreon; 13:52 on YouTube) Chrystal Law, he said, “was trying to say there was more layaway than there was so that she could get out of paying Bryan.” (14:30 on Patreon; 14:06 on YouTube) A minute later he described an Ewok Village:
“I don’t know, I wasn’t there. So one of the employees says, hey, we got this person that says they put $500 down with Chrystal on the Ewok Village and they want to pay the rest of the $200 or whatever it was to get it. And I said, yeah, well, I mean, if he paid 500 bucks to Chrystal, then sell it to him for the remainder of whatever.”
A minute after that: “my involvement in the store was absolutely very minimal. … I wrote the check, but I didn’t have anything to do with the operation of that store.” (16:47 on Patreon; 6:01 on YouTube) His own text to Mansell on December 5, 2025, in the police file: “There were a couple of sets she had on layaway we sold.”
Of Law, he said she “sold 61,500 plus of Bryan’s stuff” and did not pay him (37:14 on Patreon; 11:39 on YouTube). The number is BAM’s. Its June 29 statement said point-of-sale data showed about $61,000 that “may have been sold from the collection prior to Nov. 14, 2024” (fact-checked here). May have been sold is not unpaid.
REFUTED“We didn’t sell anything,” by his own December 5 text to Mansell. That he had nothing to do with running the store, by his own account, on the same call, of telling an employee to sell a layaway set.ASSERTEDHis accounts of Law’s sales and of the layaway. The store’s point-of-sale records are not public.
The camper
“So the trailer is mine. It’s a camper trailer, right? … We own the neighboring territory. … So we hauled my trailer up … in my F-350 for Brandon and I to stay in when we’re working at Eugene.” (9:30 on Patreon; 21:45 on YouTube)
“I think he offered the store to the [Canby] store, but they told him no. So then [he] calls us and says, hey, we need help with the Salem store. You’re the neighboring territory. Brandon was already out there. So then … I took my F-350 home, so now he has to move the camper trailer up to Salem somewhere. So he does that with the U-Haul … The U-Haul wasn’t there to move any Lego.” (9:56 on Patreon; 21:52 on YouTube)
Until now the camper was the CEO’s story. Ammon McNeff said a camper had been “moved up there in anticipation” of the takeover and that the U-Haul existed to tow it (the second U-Haul, the storage units). The camper’s owner now puts it in Oregon for the Eugene store, before anyone called about Salem. Two plaintiffs, two reasons for the same camper. The November 14 rental contract lists no tow dolly, no auto transport and no towing equipment of any kind, and U-Haul’s own rental contract prohibits using its trucks to tow a trailer it did not supply.
CONFIRMEDHis words; the CEO’s, as published; the rental contract.REFUTEDThat the U-Haul moved the camper: the contract carries no towing equipment, and U-Haul prohibits towing a trailer it did not supply.ASSERTEDThat the Canby store was offered Salem first and declined. His account alone.
What he said about March
Matty AppleSeed asked about the March day Johnson told officers he was sick.
“I had a fever of 105 those days. … I probably would have had a different video. … So instead of going out and fighting people, I just called the cops.” (18:02 on Patreon)
“I don’t trust these guys. … What the hell are we going to do? Because he tried coming in the door yesterday. What do I do?” (18:49 on Patreon)
Johnson is the complaining witness in the State’s case against Schneider, and the preliminary hearing is Wednesday, September 30, in Provo (the case). The officers’ cameras from March 8 to 11 are on the bodycam page.
ASSERTEDHis account of those days, including that “he tried coming in the door.”CONFIRMEDThe case and the hearing date.
“I have nothing to do with those people”
AppleSeed“But so Ammon’s not the same type of stock then. He friggin’ screwed you over.”
Johnson“Yes. I’m in business. I’m a businessman, right? Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”
AppleSeed“Dude, but why are you in business with this guy? Like, you know he’s not a good dude.”
Johnson“I’m not. I have nothing to do with those people.”
Later: “I don’t have anything to do with Chrystal, I don’t have anything to do with Matt and Ammon, I don’t have anything to do with the contract” (58:02 on Patreon; 23:15 on YouTube). “I got done dirty on all these things, you know?” (20:08 on Patreon; 21:09 on YouTube) Asked what he meant when he said he “got done dirty by my boy in more than one way,” he said: “I’m not even getting into it” (42:11 on Patreon; 16:37 on YouTube). Of Best: “Brandon got screwed on the deal too, big time. Brandon’s not the bad guy.” How? “I’m not going to share everything with you” (49:39 on Patreon), and “That’s not my place to tell you” (50:34 on Patreon). Of Dan McNeff, the brothers’ father: “That’s a whole other hornet’s nest,” “I know Dan very, very, very well,” and “No, they don’t talk to him” (47:22 on Patreon). He said it was “funny to hear and see these YouTubers” ask whether Ammon McNeff could “communicate and talk and plan.” His answer: “No.” (61:04 on Patreon)
On the record, he has everything to do with them. He is their co-plaintiff in the federal case. BAM’s disclosure document, as filed this month, names him the sixth of its franchise sellers, after Ammon and Matthew McNeff. And BAM’s termination letter to The Last Relic carries the same date as the incorporation of the company Johnson and Best formed to replace him.
CONFIRMEDHis words; the federal case; the disclosure document’s sellers page; the Florida registry.INFERENCEThat a termination and a replacement corporation on the same day were planned together.
“Don’t put the call on there”
Johnson“Text me your YouTube channel so I can watch, make sure you don’t lie about me.”
AppleSeed“… I can just post whatever’s from the call or whatever …”
Johnson“Don’t put the call on there. Just don’t.”
AppleSeed“But it’s been recorded. … We already said from the beginning, it’s recorded for quality and training purposes.”
Johnson“Yeah, I know, but I’m just asking, like, one guy to another. … I don’t want to be on YouTube.”
Johnson“I just want to be left alone. … Please?”
Matty AppleSeed posted the 65-minute version to his Patreon that night, with a note: “Josh is ready to be done with the LEGO drama. Give him the grace to move beyond this in peace.” The cut went up on YouTube the next afternoon.
Sources. Matty AppleSeed, “1 hour Call with Josh Johnson,” Patreon post, September 25, 2026, 65 minutes, quoted with times; and “Josh Johnson Told Me His Side | BRICKS & MINIFIGS,” YouTube, September 26, 2026, a 25-minute cut of the same call. American Fork Police Department body camera, March 8, 2026, as published on this site’s bodycam page. Keizer Police Department case file KZP24020132, as published on this site. BAM Franchising, Inc.’s verified complaint in BAM Franchising, Inc. v. Schneider, Utah Fourth District No. 260402353, removed to D. Utah No. 2:26-cv-00593, and the consignment ledger BAM filed with it, as quoted on this site. The first amended complaint in BAMF Salem 1, LLC v. BAM Franchising, Inc., Utah Business and Chancery Court No. 260200029. BAM’s June 29, 2026 statement. U-Haul contract 15284899, as reported July 22. Florida Division of Corporations, document P24000074967. BAM Franchising, Inc.’s 2026 Franchise Disclosure Document, Item 7 and the franchise sellers page, including the version filed in September 2026. Everyone named here is presumed to have acted lawfully.