Chris is a great guy. I hate to see him have to deal with a situation like this and I sincerely hope he gets his money back and the scammer is justly punished.
Kudos to Chris for getting on that plane and taking care of business.
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MONCURE -- It's the first case of snake fraud that Maj. Gary Blankenship of the Chatham County Sheriff's Office has seen in his 25 years in law enforcement.
Robert Penny, 33, of 149 Haley Meadows Drive in Moncure was arrested Wednesday on a charge of felonious obtaining property by false pretenses, Blankenship said. He was released from custody on a $1,000 unsecured bond.
Chris Simone, who runs a ball python breeding business in San Jose, Calif., said he wired Penny $18,000 in March to buy one ball python and rent others for breeding in an arrangement similar to a stud service.
The purchased python showed up, but the others never did.
Penny could not be reached for comment.
Simone said in a phone interview Thursday that he also sent Penny 26 of his own female snakes for breeding with some of Penny's males as part of the agreement. But he couldn't get Penny to return them, he said.
He finally took a flight to Raleigh and showed up on Penny's doorstep at 8:30 a.m. one Sunday in June.
Penny was "pretty shocked" to see him, Simone said.
He got his snakes back, but he said they had not been bred and looked neglected. Seven of the snakes, worth $1,000 to $2,000 each, died during the overnight trip home.
Simone said he still hasn't gotten his money back. He called the Sheriff's Office last week.
"I've tried in a friendly and professional manner to find ways to remedy the situation, but he chose to ignore me, and this is the consequence," Simone said.
Link to story (and photo of Penny)
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