Back to defend myself?

I'm still alive.
I haven't had internet access because I've been in the Bahamas living off the Private investigator fund and the advertising money. I'm at an internet cafe responding to this.
Just KIDDING!
I have been out of pocket since the servers went down. I have been spending time away from the internet. I have eaten and breathed internet for around three years and it was time for a break!
Now I will address the issues discussed on this thread.
We collected $1000 for Neil's fund. We advanced the investigator $500. According to the contract he was to bill us for any future payments every thirty days. He contacted me at $850 and told me he was 99% sure he had found the criminal and he was working with Tampa police to apprehend (They were after him for other matters). He told me he thought chasing other leads would not be money well spent. I told him if he did any more to stop at $1000. Any reports he was making were to Neil mostly. I have been waiting for the remaining bill? At that point I was going to request a written report of his findings and make sure Neil was satisfied and pay the guy. He has not sent a bill or requested any funds from Neil yet. He has done the work you paid for and reported over the phone mostly to Neil. When I get the bill and the OK from Neil
HE WILL BE PAID!
Although Steve S. has disputed $150 with paypal leaving the funds at $850.
As far as advertising money goes.....
I offered to set up the site we created on Rich's new server with the banner advertising program we had.
He opted to use this format and is planning on compensating you guys that had deposited advertising funds. With the exception of Big Apple and Neil G. there were very little funds remaining.
The funds spent on this site were going towards a very large operating overhead that we had. Rich had agreed to let the funds go towards this for the time we had dealt after he saw the overhead and other things going on.That's the kind of guy Rich is!
My daughter is my business and I kept her situation between friends. IT WILL REMAIN THAT WAY!
FYI- She is doing much better and has been back in school for 6 weeks now.
As for you MIKE C..... You got an excellent website for $100 and your friend was given FTP access to download your site well before the server went down. If you need a copy email me at this address. You were also paid cash money for several of your juveniles by me. As for me ripping your friends off! They never questioned me! Only you’re Buddy who was never involved and now you! I still have the dead carcasses in my freezer and will be happy to provide and photo to the dealer who sent them!!! I offered to do this the day they arrived and was told not to.
As for this guy who claims I billed his credit card twice? Contact me and show me proof of this $10 credit card fraud I committed? I will be happy to issue a credit and make a public apology if this was the case?
I am not on the web much so don't take "no response" to any questions as a sign I have disappeared.
I feel I have covered everything and will be in touch with Rich and Neil to tie up any loose ends.
I apologize for not contacting Rich/Neil sooner.
I JUST NEEDED A BREAK!

Your investigator money now at $850 has been and is being responsibly handled. It has been left up to Rich to take care of the remaining advertiser credit. He is doing this from what he has told me.
I spent a lot of time with the last site helping you guys for little or no compensation and this has been a real slap in the face.
Thank you to those who didn't assume the worst and join this "witch hunt".
James

** This reply is also on Rich's post

James your a liar, My website was not usable. You made all kinds of claims, we will get it listed with hundreds of seach engines ETC, ETC, ETC, Now how do you figure $ 100.00?? I sent you a R. Leachianus that I had posted for 400.00. If you remember I sent two Isle E's you paid 300.00 for one and never paid for the other. You need to start telling the truth buddy, and I will let the others speak for themselves.

Mike Conley

James...As I told you in our phone conversation....it's NOT what you did...It's HOW you did it!! COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION!
You shld know VERY WELL that in THIS industry...LACK of communication can be DISASTROUS!! The folks in the Herp industry have been ripped off too often to put up with NO response to emails or phone calls!
YES! You DID explain yourself to MY satisfaction...as a matter of fact...I stuck up for you all the way till a couple of days ago when you didn't answer my FIFTH message on your answering machine...As far as I'm concerned....EVERYTHING is back to the way it USED to be (as far as YOU are concerned)...as SOON as I hear from the PI, I will le you know what he says....I'm STILL waiting for a written report OF ANY KIND...which I have NEVER received! I guess I'm still very frustrated with the PI, because if he is 99% SURE of who did this...there should be NO REASON he can't PROVE IT and get my animals back to me! Grrrr!
Well, that's neither here nor there....the MAIN THING is that YOU'RE BACK!! I'll close by just saying STAY IN TOUCH, and you will NEVER have a problem like this again??
<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''> ....Neil

I used to post on the old "Board of Inquiry" occasionally, but since the board has been switched, I have only been a "lurker" for various reasons.
I have been wondering for some time what was going on with this investigation regarding the break in and burglary of Neil's store. Up until recently as last week, there were no updates on the status of the investigation, how much money was used from this "fund", what leads were made or how much money (total) was contributed. A lot of good people contributed their hard earned money, including myself, to this "fund." I e-mailed Rich Z. with these exact questions on 2/26/02 since this board was basically the "initiator and caretaker" of this "fund." I never recieved a reply to this inquiry. I also noticed that the same questions were presented to Neil in a couple of posts last week. If I'm not mistaken, two were ignored and one was answered by Neil stating, something to the effect that he did not want to comment until all the "T's were crossed and I's dotted." It was at that point that I knew something fishy was going on.
I only hope and pray that the latest information released on this matter is truthful. I met Rich Z. at the Tampa show last year and my impression was that he is a stand up guy. In responce to James' post regarding the amount that was collected for Neil's "fund", I say BALONEY!! Am I the only person here that finds it difficult to believe that there was only a $1000 collected! Does everyone from the old board remember how many posts there were made by individuals saying "I gave, hope this helps!" Didn't the Fauna Classifieds or the old Board of Inquiry get the ball rolling with an initial donation of $100, or was it $150? Didn't Big Apple Herp donate? I'm sure it was for more than the $25 that I gave which can be proven with a Dicover card statement! Let me be clear on the fact that I do not want anything back. However, I believe that some investigation needs to be done in order to find out what the actual total of the fund was. I think those of us who contributed deserve at least that. If everyone that contributed were to post what they gave (with proof) maybe we can figure this thing out. Or, perhaps James can post the names and the amounts donated by each individual for all of us to see. Where did he get this figure of $1000? Surely you have all the donations itemized right? If you would like to clear your name James, post every person that donated with the dollar amount and let's see if we can clear this up. Christians like myself are not supposed to be cynical, but with all the greed, corruption and deceit in today's society who can blame me?

Dennis