Just to recap and hopefully get this INQUIRY back on topic;
Michael Cole, Jeff Wise, Michael Heald, Angela Adams, and Erin Goldbach have all done REPTILE RELATED business with Mr. Timothy Lee Lofton/Providence Reptiles.
Each reported that their REPTILE RELATED deals went smoothly and that they were satisfied with the outcome.
Some unknown entities brought forth the information, (3 links below), that this same Mr. Timothy Lee Lofton was busted in Sept of 2007 for possession and sales of illegal drugs.
http://www.theledger.com/article/200...NEWS/709250472
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/cri...t.39be8a9.html
http://www.khou.com/news/local/crime...105dd49e0.html
Thus far Mr. Lofton has not been convicted of a crime but has in this thread admitted to his guilt, directly or indirectly, in relation to possession and sales of illegal drugs.
Regardless of what he was dealing in he DID willingly and knowingly break the law which to some degree is a testament on his ethical standards.
Speaking for myself, I would not be comfortable doing business with him at this time. Not necessarily because he ignored the law, though that counts into it as well, but primarily because he has not had his day in court.
At any moment he could be taken into custody and if you have an order placed with him he might not be able to ship until he gets out of prison.
As for his ethical standards, I would surmise based on the crime, that they are money driven rather than service or care driven which would also make me hesitant to do business with him.
Yes I know there are a lot of honest reptile dealers who are specifically money driven and do not care about customer service or care about the animals they sell, beyond getting the cash, but those are not people I would list as my first choice of people to do business with.