Hundreds, or maybe thousands of you, reached out to me about covering the Reckless Ben Lego videos. Ben reached out to me as well. Basically, he made a video about a stolen Lego collection that ended with him getting arrested and charged by the American Fork Police Department in Utah County, Utah. I was immediately intrigued and I wanted to help him. But before I could do that, I had to understand all of the facts. I needed to talk to Ben himself. I got a chance to interview Ben and review all of the court documents. This is Part 1, where I interview Ben. In Part 2, we’ll dive into the documents and the video of the interactions.
On October 4, 2025 on I-4 near mile marker 108 in Volusia County, Florida, a Dodge Durango made an unsafe lane change, triggering a violent chain-reaction crash involving motorcycles and multiple vehicles. Three people were killed. The Dodge Durango fled the scene, leading to a massive manhunt. The public was demanding justice. After a 6 month investigation, law enforcement finally made an arrest, and charged 23 year old Lindsey Isaacs with multiple felonies, including vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Lindsey drove a black Dodge Durango and flock camera technology showed her driving on I-4 that night near where the crash occurred. Also, investigators said they found damage on her Durango consistent with the crash. So they threw her in jail where she was denied bond and even placed in solitary confinement. The only problem was… they had the wrong Dodge Durango. This woman was completely innocent.
A couple of months ago I told you the story of Larry Bushart, who spent 37 days behind bars simply for posting a meme in a Facebook group. That video was a collaboration with FIRE, a national nonprofit First Amendment advocacy organization, who had just filed the civil rights lawsuit against Perry County, Tennessee, Sheriff Nick Weems and Investigator Jason Morrow, for multiple constitutional violations. That case just settled. Despite costing taxpayers in his county almost a million dollars due to his total disregard of Larry’s constitutional rights, Sheriff Nick Weems remains defiant, blaming everyone but himself.
Bryan Getchius is on a road trip, headed back to Florida, where he works. He gets pulled over by the Greenwood County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Office. It begins as a routine traffic stop. They ask him if he has anything illegal in his car. He knew he had nothing illegal, so he consented to the search. They search his vehicle and they find his perfectly legal IBS medication that is prescribed to him. Despite having all legitimate markings, the officers claimed it was fentanyl – or maybe cocaine (they didn’t know), but they really wanted to arrest and charge him anyway. It would take Brian 1 year, 4 months and 28 days from the date of his arrest, to clear his name. And at no point during that period of time was Brian ever in possession of any illegal controlled substances.
On June 14, 2023, the United States Marshals Service listed Joshua Smiley on the “15 Most Wanted” list. He was the 26 year-old male suspect in an August 2021 shooting death of a man in Mobile, Alabama. On June 20, 2023, about a week after Joshua Smiley was put on the most wanted list, he was peacefully apprehended in Avon, Indiana – a suburb of Indianapolis. It was no big deal. They found him in just a couple of days, called him out, he came out and was arrested with no issues. It was a success. So why did the US Marshals raid Cathy George’s home in Sandy Springs, Georgia three months later?
On June 3 of last year, I posted the video showing 22 year old Paul Wert sitting on a bench outside the CVS store where he worked. He had just gotten off work. The store had closed about 7 minutes earlier. Then, here comes Edgewater police officer Daniel Rippeon. Officer Rippeon observed Paul and concluded that he looked suspicious. No crime had been committed. No crime had been alleged by anyone to have been committed. Yet Paul was almost immediately seized and threatened with being tased and bitten by a police K9. In the end, he was taken to jail, despite the fact that Officer Rippeon was fully aware that Paul was a store employee waiting for a Lyft driver. It’s now been 9 months and I have all the updates for you, straight from Paul’s lawyer.
Michael Brewer spent 14 days in jail for a crime that was never even committed. He goes to a local gun store to buy a gun. The store employees run the routine NICS instant criminal background check, as per federal law. But there was apparently a mistake in Michael’s criminal record somewhere, making it look like he’s not allowed to possess, purchase, or even handle, a firearm. Days later he’s driving down the road and gets pulled over. He ends up getting arrested and going to jail. As he’s sitting in jail, his lawyer provides proof that they’ve made a mistake. But they ignore him.
Imagine there’s a bank heist committed in Fargo, North Dakota. Cops pull a grainy photo of the suspect off a surveillance camera. They run that photo through AI facial recognition software, and it matches with an innocent grandmother down in Tennessee (who has never even been to North Dakota). Imagine they just run with that AI match and issue an arrest warrant, without performing an actual investigation into whether the AI is correct… Angela Lipps was arrested at her home in Tennessee, jailed and extradited to Fargo, North Dakota. She sat in jail for months, with nobody even bothering to check and see if she was the actual suspect they’re looking for (she wasn’t).
In America, we don’t jail people for political speech. Yet Larry Bushart spent 37 days behind bars simply for posting a meme in a Facebook group. Perry County, Tennessee Sheriff Nick Weems sent cops to Larry’s home to intimidate him over a Facebook meme he posted. But he wasn’t intimidated. He knew his rights and didn’t back down. So then the sheriff obtained an arrest warrant that he knew was false and had Larry arrested and then put in jail for over a month. Only after national public outrage did county officials drop the charges and set Larry free. But now Larry’s out for justice and he’s being helped by FIRE, a national nonprofit First Amendment advocacy organization, who has now filed a civil rights lawsuit on his behalf. I got a chance to talk with Larry’s lawyer about the case – what actually happened, why it was so egregious, and how you can help.
In a Walmart in Danville, Kentucky, 66 year old John Hardwick (who had been diagnosed with dementia) was mistreated by Walmart employees while on a grocery shopping trip with his wife. They callously mistook John’s confusion (due to his dementia) for attempted shoplifting, and then called the police. But the police were worse. Officer TJ Godbey punched this vulnerable man 6 times, which was caught on video. And then he, along with Danville Police Officer Ben Ray, arrested John. A lawsuit was filed, which I covered about a year ago. That case has now been settled, with the government claiming the high road. But there’s something they’re not telling you, and they can’t be allowed to cover it up, and escape accountability.
