Ben Siegel Troubles

I am hesitant to post this because Ben has a reputation as a good guy, but if people have orders in or are involved in auctions, they need to know this, and his trouble here affects us all.

Broward Sheriff's Office
Benjamin Siegel
Monday, Jan 5, 2015 • Updated at 1:26 PM EST

A South Florida reptile store owner is facing battery and animal cruelty charges after authorities say he struck employees with a bearded dragon lizard and put it in his mouth.

Benjamin Herman Siegel, owner of Siegel Reptiles, was arrested Friday at the business on West Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report.

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Siegel, 40, remained behind bars without bond Monday, jail records showed. It was unknown if he has an attorney.

According to the report, video surveillance captured Siegel throwing the animal in the air and swinging it in the air multiple times. He also hit employees with the bearded dragon multiple times and threw Gatorade on them, the report said.
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"The defendant did unnecessarily torment the animal, handling the animal in a cruel and/or inhumane manner and intentionally committed an act to the animal which results in excessive and repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering to the animal," the report said.

The reptile store made national headlines in 2012 when a man died after consuming dozens of insects and worms during a roach-eating contest at the shop.

Someone on another board suggested that he is mentally ill. I am not sure where or how to find that info.

It is widely known that Ben suffers from bi-polar disorder.

Thank you Rose for posting.
There's already so many BOI inquiries about him that I didn't want it to get washed away as just another one.

Yeah, I didn't want his good guy posts to get polluted with this, but this is important.

Mental illness is no excuse for animal cruelty.

Give the man another free pass, he has mental issues.

The ben riders will defend him again and again its sad. U dont hurt animals thats animal cruelty

What do you mean by a free pass? Lots of people in this business have mental issues, but what do we do now that his includes animal cruelty? Should he be allowed to be in business after this?

No one has, of yet, defended Ben in this thread. He does, in fact, suffer a mental illness and his condition has deteriorated drastically over the past few years. Most people who have known Ben for decades say the man is hardly recognizable as who he once was.

Ben should have retired from the business several years ago, there is no disputing that.

However, he needs help and has needed help for a while. He has been arrested or detained several times in the past 24 months because of complete and total mental breakdowns, but all the state does is arrest him, book him and send him back on his way as do many states these days. They do not want to or cannot be bothered with dealing with someone that is mentally fractured.

It is not as simple as "Well, he abused a bearded dragon.".