Regal Reptiles - Meh.

The new thread was closed??? Only thing I want to know is why out of 17 other people is he the only one they listed his profession?

I know i don't post often, but I just wanted to put in my .02cents- I got to regals a good amount, and have bought several animals from there (boas, beardeds, supplies and food) and havent had any problems with them. personally i've never dealt with Shaun- I've only dealt with Troy, and have learned a lot from him. Troy really cares about the animals and - from what i've seen- takes good care of them. I have been to the 'zoo' yes, i thought it was ridiculous that they charge you to see it, but w.e seeing some of the animals there was cool. They are not exactly the cleanest place, but at the same time, they are understaffed and have lots of animals and apparently not enough time ( which is not a good excuse i know.)

I think that what shaun has been arrested for is disgusting- and i hope that he gets what he deserves, but i also hope that regals does not close.

Only thing I want to know is why out of 17 other people is he the only one they listed his profession?

You'd have to go to the news agencies that reported the story for that answer. I imagine that the condemnation of his house & reptiles confiscated made the story even more news-worthy, plus the fact that the guy is a Little League coach.

I suspect the new thread was closed due to the title of that thread and the fact that this thread already existed. He's been accused & charged but not yet convicted, so perhaps the "perv" title was inappropriate at this time. (I am not defending the man - the video was pretty damning, IMO)

The reason why they picked him out of the crowd was that he owns his own business that deals with kids and he also is a little league coach. That is why they interviewed him. all the other people work in a different trade that may never come in contact with kids

Originally Posted by LauraB

I suspect the new thread was closed due to the title of that thread and the fact that this thread already existed.

This topic is being addressed here, and the story is posted in a Herps in the News thread; so posting a new thread was a bit much - especially since the OP of that thread is the same person that brought it to this one a few days ago....however, that had nothing to do with why it was closed. Quite simply, the title was abusive, and would likely have set the tone for the content. (Even if it didn't, the title was still a problem - so closing it was, IMO, the best way to address it)

http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/08/au...-in-ri-ch.html

Update: Arrests announced in RI child pornography sweep
5:15 PM Wed, Aug 18, 2010 | Permalink
Katie Mulvaney Email

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Seventeen Rhode Islanders, including a co-owner of a city reptile store and a city maintenance manager, are facing possession of child pornography charges after state, federal and local law-enforcement agencies executed search warrants across the state early Wednesday.

"Today's sweep ... had one objective: to protect children," U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha said at an afternoon press conference.

The arrests came after an undercover online investigation by a state police task force aimed at fighting Internet crimes against children, in conjunction with state and federal prosecutors.

Dubbed Operation Safe Child, the months-long probe identified 20 Rhode Island residences involved in actively obtaining and sharing pornographic images involving children, according to state police.

The state police targeted the users exchanging the highest volume of child pornography using a software program that searched peer-to-peer, or file-sharing, networks, according to a statement by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch. Investigators then secured downloads, often of images involving young children and even infants, from the suspects by convincing them over the Internet to share a pornographic file, according to state police.

Police got search warrants for the residences based on the downloads and retrieved thousands of photographs and video featuring child pornography. More than 70 authorities executed the warrants Wednesday morning.

"These images are so vile and disgusting," Lynch said at a press conference late Wednesday.
It appears at this point that no Rhode Island children were involved, State Police Col. Brendan P. Doherty said. But investigators will continue looking at possible child-pornography manufacturing and trafficking charges, said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Boston office.

Those facing a child pornography possession charge include Shawn Fay, 39, of 1023 Danielson Pike, North Scituate, a co-owner of Regal Reptiles in Providence and Little League coach, and Miguel Escobedo, 38, a maintenance manager for the City of Providence, said state police Capt. David Neill.

Also facing a child pornography possession charge are:
Michael Wallace, 24, of 24 Marion Ave., Pascoag
Alan Alarcon, 18, of 75 Commodore St., Providence
Robert MacGregor, 48, of 522 York Ave., Unit 3, Pawtucket
Girard Proux, 43, of 522 York Ave., Unit 3, Pawtucket
George Dubuque III, 21, of 3521 Post Rd., Wakefield
Jeffrey Earl, 22, of 364 Curtis Corner Rd., Unit B25, Wakefield
Paul Hutchinson, 27, of 21 Allen Ave., Barrington
Joshua Page, 18, of 8 Swinburne St., Jamestown
Kyle Bannister, 19, of 142 Kenyon Trail, Richmond
Michael Woodard, 19, of 127 Murray Ave., North Kingstown
Jason Bidondi, 35, of 84 Fales St., Apt. 206, Central Falls
Jason Demelo, 33, of 24 Deleware Ave., Warwick
Cory Bergeron, 19, of 10 Clark Mill Rd., Coventry
Two 17-year-old juveniles who were not named due to their age.

Kyle Martin, 22, of 31 Willis Drive, Cumberland, was charged with possession of steroids, not child pornography, according to police.

CORRECTION: An earlier post incorrectly said 20 people were arrested on child pornography charges.

The agencies involved included the state police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Services, probation and parole officials and child protective services from the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.

The state police Internet Crimes Against Children task force is funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant. It's made up of state police detectives as well as detectives from the Providence, West Warwick and Coventry police departments and an ICE agent.
Over the past year and a half, state police and task force arrests have increased over 500 percent, according to state police. More than 8,600 people have been prosecuted at the federal level since October 2006.

Experts say the images increasingly seem to feature younger children -- infants and toddlers --being molested for the cameras in more violent and egregious ways. Most are abused and photographed by a parent, relative or someone else in a position of trust, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.





http://newsblog.projo.com/2010/08/sc...-containi.html

Scituate closes house containing reptiles, rodents after raid
4:45 PM Wed, Aug 18, 2010 | Permalink
Thomas J. Morgan Email


SCITUATE, R.I. -- When state and federal officers went to a house in Scituate to serve a search warrant in a series of child pornography raids Wednesday morning they were confronted by "hundreds of reptiles and rodents" and various exotic animals, according to Police Chief David M. Randall.

As a result, David E. Provonsil, town building official, declared the house at 1023 Danielson Pike, home of Shawn Fay, his wife, Beth Ann Kut Fay, and their two children, uninhabitable. Provonsil said the family will not be allowed to reenter their house until it is cleaned up.

Police charged Shawn Fay with possession of child pornography.

Provonsil described an "accumulation of debris" and "pungent odors." He said when he entered one room, which housed reptiles and other animals, "I couldn't even breathe in there." He said the couple were raising "thousands" of rats and mice commercially.

Dr. E. J. Finocchio, head of the state Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who was called in, said the animals were apparently being raised for Fay's business, Regal Reptiles, 580 Harris Ave., Providence.

"The thing that first caught my eye was a four-foot alligator, two eight-foot snakes, scorpions, tarantulas, exotic lizards, hundreds of rats and mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and thousand and thousands of crickets in boxes."

Outside there were a pot-bellied pig, two dogs, a cat, two goats, chickens and ducks, he said.

Randall said, "Our main concern was the health and welfare of the family and their being relocated somewhere else." He said the town offered to relocate the family if they were unable to find quarters on their own, but he did not know the status of that offer by Wednesday evening.

Finocchio said that despite the conditions he observed, and the crowded containers in which the animals were being housed, Rhode Island regulations dealing with such matters are so weak that he could detect no violations in relation to the animals.

The snakes, he said, lived in a container that was one-third of the recommended national standards.

"The time has come for Rhode Island to get into the 21st Century," the veterinarian said.

He said the mice, crickets and worms were apparently being used as a food source for the other animals.

Finocchio said Fay's business card describes him as an "educational entertainment specialist."

"I think they go around with some of these animals to different facilities and teach people and show them these exotic animals," he said.

http://www.regalreptiles.net/birthday-parties/


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