BAM told police the Salem store was counted the night it was taken, by a franchisee who “would have done a thorough job.” The man who helped take it says: “Supposedly he took pictures.”
Six valuations of one store, all from BAM’s side, from about $17,000 down to “literally nothing in there.” The debt they were set against was written before any of them. BAM’s own filed ledger lists 403 of Bryan Mansell’s sets unsold on the shelves that night. The inventory document its chief executive said would come “through their attorney’s office” has never appeared in any filing the Publisher holds.
PRIMARY SOURCEThe Keizer police file, KZP24020132, on this site in full; BAM’s verified complaint of May 27, 2026, paragraphs 27, 29, 40 and 41, now docket 1-4 in the federal case; BAM’s Notice of Immediate Termination dated November 14, 2024, Exhibit D in the Salem case; BAM’s Exhibit B, the Mansell ledger; BAM’s 2024 disclosure document, audited note 8.
CONTRADICTEDAmmon McNeff’s statement to a detective that the count was made by “an existing franchisee who knew how to conduct an inventory and would have done a thorough job,” against BAM’s own sworn “informal and video inventory,” Brandon Best’s own word, “estimate,” the pictures Josh Johnson describes, and BAM’s own filed ledger of what was on the shelves.
ASSERTEDJohnson’s words on two recorded calls published October 16, 2026, by Matty AppleSeed, who recorded them. He is told on the recording that it is being recorded. Untested.
Josh Johnson’s words on the two recordings Matty AppleSeed published on October 16, 2026. Each is graded twice: CONFIRMED that he said it, on a recording he is told is being made; ASSERTED as to whether it is true. At 2:20 he says, “I can’t talk about it, and you’re recording this video,” and goes on. Positions are in the Patreon video unless marked.
“There’s literally nothing in there.”
“Supposedly he took pictures of the little bit of sets that were there, but I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything.”
“I was never at the store. I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day things.”
“Brandon probably should have done one … the accounting purposes.” “I’m the last person on this entire planet that’s gonna sit there and count.”
Six numbers for one store
On the evening of November 14, 2024, BAM ended Chrystal Law’s franchise and took the Salem store; its complaint says BAM “assumed possession of the premises and all assets located within the store.” Every account of what was in it, from the side that took it:
| Who, to whom | What the count was | The number | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best, to corporate November 14, 2024 | “an inventory was conducted that night using product knowledge and assistance from corporate staff to estimate the total value of the store” | about $17,000 | SHIFTING |
| Johnson, to Benjamin Schneider recorded calls, in the police file as item JIW6 | “when they took over the store, they assessed the inventory at around $40,000 for the entire contents of the store”; of the confrontation with Bryan Mansell, “their inventory only showed $20,000 in the store, and the shelves were bare” | $20,000 and $40,000 | SHIFTING |
| Best, to the Keizer detective February 5, 2026 | “estimating approximately $32,000 in inventory, compared to a typical recommended minimum of $150,000 to $200,000 in cost value, which would be contrary to a large consignment being in the store” | about $32,000 | SHIFTING |
| McNeff, to the Keizer detective February 10, 2026 | “neither he nor McAllister knew how exactly the inventory was conducted”; it “was done by an existing franchisee who knew how to conduct an inventory and would have done a thorough job”; a copy “through their attorney’s office” | “not even close” | CONTRADICTED |
| BAM, verified by McNeff and Johnson May 27, 2026 | Best “conducted an informal and video inventory” and “concluded that the maximum value of any residual inventory was less than $38,000”; BAM “credited an estimated $38,000 paltry value thereof as an offset” | less than $38,000 | AS SWORN |
| Johnson, on a recorded call October 16, 2026 | “Supposedly he took pictures of the little bit of sets that were there, but I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything.” | “literally nothing in there” | CONTRADICTED |
The man with the lowest number is the one BAM’s complaint calls its “contracted inventory inspector.” The man with no number is the one who verified that complaint. SHIFTING marks a speaker who gives two figures for the same night. CONTRADICTED marks a figure BAM’s own other paper denies; that table is below.
The debt came first
BAM’s letter to the Gormans is dated the day of the takeover. It told them to pay “within 15 days after the date of termination” all amounts unpaid, “in the amount of $97,393.70.” Any count came after that figure was written. Fifteen months later McNeff told the detective that Law “owed BAM around $100,000,” that “she also had $48,000 remaining to complete the purchase of the business, so she owed anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 to BAM,” and that “when they got into the store, the inventory was nowhere near that amount.” In court, three months after that, the debt had become $175,000 and the store $38,000.
The accounting turns on the count. In the detective’s words: “McNeff further explained that if the assets of the store were in excess of what was owed, they would be required to pay that money back. He said that was not the case here because the value of the fixtures and inventory was not even close to the amount owed.” Whether they were close depends on who counted and how. Nobody at the top of BAM could say.
How the count was made, by the people who say they made it
Asked how, the chief executive and the chief operating officer did not know. The detective recorded: “He said neither he nor McAllister knew how exactly the inventory was conducted. McNeff said he believed a document was produced showing what was in the store and the market value. He did not know where that document currently was.” Then: “it was done by an existing franchisee who knew how to conduct an inventory and would have done a thorough job. I asked McNeff if he would be able to provide a copy of the inventory and he told me I would need to request that through their attorney’s office.”
The existing franchisee was Best, who owned the Eugene store. His own word for it, five days earlier to the same detective, was “estimate”: “an inventory was conducted that night using product knowledge and assistance from corporate staff to estimate the total value of the store.” BAM’s own word for it, under oath three months later, was “informal and video.” Johnson’s word for it, on October 16, was “supposedly.” He helped take the store; Best told the detective the two of them “were acting as management staff on behalf of the franchise.” To a Keizer officer in May 2025 Johnson said “the business absorbs all inventory in the store once it’s taken over,” and in September 2026, on another recorded call: “So we got Salem for free, right?” Thorough job, estimate, informal and video, supposedly: four words for one count, from three men on the same side.
What was in the store, by BAM’s own ledger and by the pictures
BAM filed its own answer to “nothing in there.” Exhibit B in its Utah case is the store’s register ledger of the Mansell consignment, every copy with its cost, its value and either the ticket it sold on or the fact that it was still unsold. It records 743 of Mansell’s copies: 340 sold before the seizure for roughly $41,000, and 403 still unsold the night the store was taken. Add up the unsold list at BAM’s own two columns and the Low column totals $31,339, the High column $49,633, before the two Cloud City sets the ledger prices at $4,000 to $10,000 each (August 5; the exhibit).
The shelves were photographed. At 7:54 p.m. on November 14, 2024, Chrystal Law and Benjamin Gorman photographed the store before they left it, the sets boxed and wearing the store’s yellow consignment stickers and price tags; the photographs are in the evidence collection Coffeezilla published in June 2026 and are read set by set on the Keizer page. Of the 117 set numbers unsold at the seizure, 41 later surfaced for sale at Best and Johnson’s Eugene store. Three of them are below: boxed and tagged on the Salem shelf that night, then built and boxless on the Eugene storefront.
The video exists too, by BAM’s own account. Three weeks before the takeover, on October 24, BAM sent Best to the store as an unannounced secret shopper to video its condition; by the chief executive’s on-camera account a camper trailer had been staged in Oregon “in anticipation of the…potential hostile takeover” (the Keizer page). BAM has produced neither the video nor a list. Two former employees told the detective the yellow stickers came off the sets after Best took over (August 7), and Johnson’s own text of December 5, 2025 reads: “A list of inventory does not indicate where it came from.”
Set BAM’s sworn complaint beside BAM’s other papers:
| Sworn, May 27, 2026 | BAM’s own other record | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Best “was engaged as a contracted inventory inspector for BAM” and “completed the inventory.” (paragraph 41) | McNeff to police: “did not know the methodology used to conduct the inventory.” Best to police: “to estimate the total value of the store.” | MISMATCH |
| “Less than $5,000 worth of Star Wars LEGO product could be located and identified in the entire residual Salem LLC onsite inventory.” (paragraph 29) | Exhibit B, BAM’s own filing: 403 of Mansell’s Star Wars copies unsold that night, $31,339 to $49,633 at BAM’s own two columns, before Cloud City. | MISMATCH |
| “The store was empty, looked unpresentable and had been ransacked.” (paragraph 40) | The owners’ photographs at 7:54 p.m.: boxed sets on the shelves, stickered and priced. Forty-one of the unsold set numbers on sale at Eugene within months. | MISMATCH |
| BAM “credited an estimated $38,000 paltry value thereof as an offset to the unpaid $175,000 debt.” (paragraph 27) | The letter of November 14, 2024: “$97,393.70.” McNeff to police: “$100,000 to $150,000.” Three figures for one debt, none of them counted against a count. | MISMATCH |
The verifier who was never there
Johnson is one of the two men who verified BAM’s complaint, which pleads the night of the takeover in detail and says that after Best “completed the inventory, Josh expressed to BAM his interest in acquiring a franchise for the store location” (October 1). On October 16, asked whether police ever came to the store about the bird, he said: “I have no idea. I was never at the store. I wasn’t involved in the day-to-day things.” Minutes earlier on the same recording he had described arriving after Best “had taken over the store” and loading a cage into his truck there. To an American Fork officer in March: “hey, go rescue the Salem store.”
On the woman whose store it was: “she stole the store.” BAM’s own audited statements record the sale: on February 2, 2023 BAM sold the Salem store for $65,000 and financed $45,000 of it with a note, and its complaint pleads the security agreement signed that day (August 15). Johnson’s September 27 call with Matty AppleSeed is already before the court: filed October 1 as two exhibits to the defendants’ motion to supplement, which BAM joined a motion to allow on October 9 (October 9).
What BAM has produced
The inventory document McNeff said would come “through their attorney’s office”: none, in any filing in the Salem case or the federal case that the Publisher holds, as of October 17, 2026. Twenty-eight days after the Salem letter, the same form of letter went to the Wesley Chapel, Florida franchisee for “approximately $163,734.22,” and the two men who took that store were the same two (September 27). BAM said on July 10, 2026 that it had “implemented immediate changes across all locations, including more rigorous record-keeping and inventory management” (August 8). The record of the count at Salem is what the people who took the store say it is: an estimate, a video, and pictures nobody has seen.
The fair reading, and its limit. Johnson says he never saw a count; that is not the same as there being none, and Best told the detective one was made “using product knowledge and assistance from corporate staff.” A detective’s summary of a recorded interview is not testimony. The October 16 calls were published by Matty AppleSeed, who said in a public video the same night that a “hit piece against the Gormans would be the perfect ruse” to regain Johnson’s trust; Johnson is told he is being recorded, and keeps talking. Every figure above is BAM’s own. One document ends the question, and BAM says it has it.
Sources. Keizer Police Department file KZP24020132, on this site in full: pages 21 to 24 (Best and McNeff interviews, Supplement 4), page 6 (Johnson to Officer Starns, May 2025), pages 17 to 19 (the detective’s summary of the Johnson and Schneider recordings, item JIW6). BAM Franchising, Inc. v. Schneider, No. 2:26-cv-00593 (D. Utah), docket 1-4, the verified complaint of May 27, 2026, paragraphs 27, 29, 40 and 41; docket 43; docket 48. BAM Franchising, Inc. v. BAMF Salem 1, LLC, No. 260200029 (Utah), Exhibit D, and BAM’s Exhibit B, the Mansell ledger. BAM’s 2024 disclosure document, note 8. The two recordings of Josh Johnson published October 16, 2026 at 10:17 p.m. MDT by Matty AppleSeed: his public video (the clip from 1:50; the ruse at 0:48) and his Patreon posts “Inventory Lists Salem & Florida” and “Tattle Tales” (on Patreon), quoted by time from the Publisher’s own transcription; nothing from either is reproduced here. Corrections requested by any named party: none received as of this build.