Inquiry on "Tom Crutchfield"

I may not have the same opinion of Tom as the Feds do, but I would do business with him any day of the week. I've bought animals from him for many years and they've always been top notch. I had the great good fortune of experiencing an Everglades trip that was guided by Tom and it was fabulous. Great guy, super knowledgeable about herps, the herp business, and the Everglades and the Native Americans living there.

Vin Buccigrossi

I purchased a few WC animals from him about 15 years ago when he his own business and mailers he'd send out. Never had any problems with them, and all were diease/mite free and in perfect health. If he had an animal I was intrested in today I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from him based on my past experience with him.

David Beaver

Isn't he the guy who ran to Belize to hide from his charges? If so, I wouldn't put much credence into his 'rehabilitation.'

Sincerely,

Gino Beniquez

Originally Posted by GinoInDaBronx

Isn't he the guy who ran to Belize to hide from his charges? If so, I wouldn't put much credence into his 'rehabilitation.'

Sincerely,

Gino Beniquez

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/1999/April/140enr.htm

Yeah, he was ready to let his partners in crime take the fall while tried to hide from the US Justice system. Eventually Belize expelled him and he had no choice but to come home and face the music.

No doubt he made mistakes. And maybe he made mistakes on top of mistakes. And then he paid his dues, voluntarily, otherwise , or somewhere in between. Christ I know so many bums in this business who never got caught. Not looking to change anyone's opinion about respect for the law, or those who break it, though.

Tom's history of thousands of transactions provides a better historical base on which to judge whether or not he delivers to his customer's expectations than the transaction records of anyone who has posted here. If he was a "bum" in that regard, there would be threads a mile long slamming his customer shortcomings. "let he who is without fault .... first stone .... etc ....."

JimO, what partners are you referring to?

Randal Berry

Tom is a wealth of knowledge.

His many years in the business speaks for itself, he made mistakes and has paid for that.

I would not hesitate for 1 minute about doing business with him.

I agree 100%. He has made some mistakes in the past but he has paid his dues. I have asked for his help several times and he always given me good info. I would be willing to bet a c note he does not remeber me but I do remember him. He has more info in his pinky finger than more of us have in our brain. If anyone has had a bad transaction I would really like to hear about it. He did screw up by breaking the law but has he ever ripped anyone off? I doubt it. If he had some boa's I wanted I would not wait a second to buy them from him. He really is a good guy. Let's remeber folks, we all make mistakes and he has paid for his. How much $ do you think he walked away from during his time away from our hobby? He could easily have used a fake name or a front and still have beeen here the whole time. I am sorry if any of you disagree with me but I would give him a second chance and would buy from him in a second. I really find it hard to believe that this many peeps are willing to throw him under the bus when he can help us all with his knowledge!

Sincerely,

Joe

lets remember the so-called "horrible" felony Tom perpertrated:
he illegally transported herps into Florida, my state for
the last 20 years, where any developer only has to pay a fee
for the privelege of bulldozing dozens of protected gopher tortoises
alive in their burrows to build a WalMart parking lot. We cannot touch
or breed Gophers but developers can kill them and not ever see the inside of a courtroom like Tom. I don't condone what Tom did, but we have to put it
in perspective.....I will bet anything you could offer Tom a ton of money and he would never get on top of a dozer to kill protected gopher tortoises even though it can be arranged to be done legally.

I purchased my rock iguanas from tom last year and i am very happy with them. He was very helpful.