Bad Guy Derek Corrado AKA DC Reptiles

[Philsuma]

I'm curious as to why he returned the frogs.

Only he would be able to answer that, but if I had to take a guess....I would say and avalanche of negative sentiment from local members of the dart frog hobby community were up in arms and he probably felt that he was going to be arrested, pummeled or both and sought to frantically find a way out of the rapidly enclosing box.....

 

[Lucille]

Is he aware of this thread, that he can respond to what has been said?

 

[Lucille]

Unfortunately the original owner does not wish to call police

Does one not have to make a report to declare a theft loss covered by insurance? I would like to hear from the original owner why, if everyone was so certain they knew and could prove who the culprit was, why did he not call the police?

 

[frogface]

I don't think the frogs were covered by insurance.

Many of us wanted the frog owner to press charges. I guess he had his reasons for not doing it. He mentioned that he'd be back on BOI after work. Said he had some things to post.

 

[Lucille]

I don't think the frogs were covered by insurance.

Many of us wanted the frog owner to press charges. I guess he had his reasons for not doing it. He mentioned that he'd be back on BOI after work. Said he had some things to post.

I look forward to reading what he says, and to having my question answered by him.

 

[Julio]

Ok here is the deal, Chris, Scott and I all decided that it was not cost effective for us to press charges after i talked it over with the attorneys at my company. The amount of court fees would be ridiculous and on top of that the theft took place at Scott's house where Chris and I would have had to press charges and file for it in MD and I live in NYC and Chris in NC. yeah it would have been great to prosecute him, but i don't that kind of capital to be going back and forth with court and lawyers fees which can quickly become astronomical.

 

[Julio]

furthermore there are quite a few newbies on this thread if you wanna call us that, we might be new to forum, but certainly not new to the hobby what so ever.

 

[Dendro Dave]

Slow down, and read more carefully. I'm not disputing Derek Corrado being DCreptiles. Nor am I disputing the IP match with alluringeli.....all I have said is
1) that the emails posted from "J Karpinski" are basically anonymous third party quotes, because there is never a first name referenced;
2) that there is no connection shown here between the alluringeli account and J Karpinski; and
3) that there is no connection shown here that Derek Corrado is using J Karpinski as an alias.

1. They are anonymous by name(I guess technically) but not by IP which represents the physical location of the computer they were sent from, which corresponds to Dereks PC and DCreptiles dendroboard account and the thief's email accounts used to communicate with the victims. There doesn't need to be a first name referenced in them because they are fraudulent (and failed) attempts to hide his identity. But he screwed up and sent them from the same computer with the same IP which means they came from the same computer and the same place in the real world. What your saying is like saying... "well he didn't give his real name in his attempts to hide his identity, so it doesn't count". The matching IP's should be thought of as the true ID here.

2. Were they not the same IP too? That is a physical connection...so unless you are saying the screen shots are doctored then yes there is a connection. A physical one that ties those 2 accounts to the same PC, which is also tied to the DCreptiles dendroboard account which derek has openly admitted to being his and done business under. Just follow the logic...1 and 2 are connected to the same IP. 3 is connected to the same IP (derek,and dcreptiles db account), which is thus connnected back to 1 and 2 (the 2 fake email address used as an attempt to hide the identity)..By the IP...because they are the same, which means same PC which means same physical address unless someone stole his PC which he has not once claimed to my knowledge.

3. Yes there is. That the IPs match, meaning same PC, same owner, same physical address. I simply don't understand how you can repeatedly deny the matching IPs of all the referenced accounts which correspond to the same computer as not being a connection. It is a physical real world connection. Same IP, same computer...simple as that, so either someone in his house stole the frogs and came up with the fake email address or he did and he hid that fact and refuses to out the thief while being in possession of stolen property, and the PC that was used by all referenced accounts.

By him admitting to being derek, and dcreptiles which he clearly has, as he does business under both names and using that pc with that IP for communication he has also directly linked himself to the 2 fake accounts also. The matching IP's represent a direct physical connection between the man, the place, and all 3 accounts. If that still fails to meet the standards of "a connection" then your logic escapes me.

 

[Dendro Dave]

I'm curious as to why he returned the frogs.

Because of all the pressure being put on him. Because his rep was ruined in the hobby and he relies on the hobby make his living, or at least part of it. Plus if he returns the frogs while claiming that somehow he got the real thief to deal with him (when he for some reason wouldn't deal with others who offered anonymity) then got the frogs returned then it may look to some people like he is the hero here, or at least casts doubts on his guilt. The better question isn't why he returned the frogs, but rather... Why would a thief who had already gotten away with it without being truly identified while someone else took the fall, all of a sudden decide to return the frogs, not to the owners but to the person who took the fall? Where is the logic in that? Basically this was pathetic attempt to salvage some credibility by appearing to have "helped" get the frogs back instead of actually being the thief.

The IP evidence is so tight thats all most needed to convict him in their minds. Someone would have had to plan the theft in advance, know derek was going to be there, and set up the theft plan and frame job in advance spoofing his IP (which isn't going to be easy for most people). The odds that 2 people who attended the same frog meeting would ever end up with same IP especially within such a small window of time are astronomical. That and the fact that Derek has admitted to being DCreptiles and that dendroboard account is tied to the same IP as the thief's emails which represents a real world connection pretty much makes this air tight.

 

[Lucille]

Ok here is the deal, Chris, Scott and I all decided that it was not cost effective for us to press charges after i talked it over with the attorneys at my company. The amount of court fees would be ridiculous and on top of that the theft took place at Scott's house where Chris and I would have had to press charges and file for it in MD and I live in NYC and Chris in NC. yeah it would have been great to prosecute him, but i don't that kind of capital to be going back and forth with court and lawyers fees which can quickly become astronomical.

What are you talking about? Calling the police and making a criminal complaint costs nothing. The State bears the cost of prosecution. Yet, the owner did not do that. What's going on?

Y'all have avoided answering my question as to whether this person has been notified about this thread. You need to let him know so that we can hear his side.

 

[melas]

Y'all have avoided answering my question as to whether this person has been notified about this thread. You need to let him know so that we can hear his side.

The link to this thread has been posted on several forums he frequents, in threads that he has been active in recently. I am CERTAIN he is aware of this thread . . .

As far as the police not being called - I would have reported it personally. However it is pretty certain that this would have gone nowhere. The total value of the stolen property is small, the thief is from NJ, the Seller from NY, the Buyer from NC. That alone takes it to federal jurisdiction. There was some discussion about taking this to USFW as a Lacey Act violation - stolen CITES animals transported across state lines. I think that would have been the way to go. Anyhow - I can also understand not wanting to be bothered with the hassle - I got burned on Kingsnake by a guy that was well known here (I have a post on it). I filed all the reports etc and heard NOTHING back. The reality is that this would go nowhere. The frogs are back and now we are just trying to make sure this guy isn't able to do business freely any longer . . .

 

[Bcs TX]

Lucille,
I sent him a private message on Dendroboard. He does not have an e-mail address on his profile.

-Beth

 

[Lucille]

The link to this thread has been posted on several forums he frequents, in threads that he has been active in recently. I am CERTAIN he is aware of this thread . . .

As far as the police not being called - I would have reported it personally. However it is pretty certain that this would have gone nowhere. The total value of the stolen property is small, the thief is from NJ, the Seller from NY, the Buyer from NC. That alone takes it to federal jurisdiction. There was some discussion about taking this to USFW as a Lacey Act violation - stolen CITES animals transported across state lines. I think that would have been the way to go. Anyhow - I can also understand not wanting to be bothered with the hassle - I got burned on Kingsnake by a guy that was well known here (I have a post on it). I filed all the reports etc and heard NOTHING back. The reality is that this would go nowhere. The frogs are back and now we are just trying to make sure this guy isn't able to do business freely any longer . . .

You keep trying to make this a civil case, this would not be a federal civil case if you made a criminal complaint. Where are you getting your information?

Plus, if all the elements of theft were satisfied (and that has not been shown), and might be hard to pin down since the frogs were returned, there might have been a conviction.

I myself, had this happened to me, would have filed a report.

 

[Lucille]

Lucille,
I sent him a private message on Dendroboard. He does not have an e-mail address on his profile.

-Beth

Thank you Beth

 

[melas]

You keep trying to make this a civil case, this would not be a federal civil case if you made a criminal complaint. Where are you getting your information?

Plus, if all the elements of theft were satisfied (and that has not been shown), and might be hard to pin down since the frogs were returned, there might have been a conviction.

I myself, had this happened to me, would have filed a report.

First - I stated that I would have followed through with it as well.

Second - The MD State Police cannot go and serve a warrant in NJ . . . you understand that right? We have at least two police officers in our ranks. Also - for several weeks we were working with the individual who came forward claiming responsibility. We agreed not to call law enforcement in order to get them back. Once that deal fell through it was open season . . . however Chris and Julio have yet to pursue it.

Here are the before pictures of the stolen frogs:

Male:

Female:

I've got to say that I'm getting pissed that Chris has not come on here yet and said more.

 

[Philsuma]

I just have to say that I'm very proud of how the dart frog hobby community came together and handled this entire incident from start to finish.

As you can infer from the above postings...this was not an "easy" incident. It involved numeous states, jurisdictions and people. What made it particularly heinous, is that the theft took place at a well known and respected members own house, where we have yearly meetings with food and fellowship.

The decision to involve police is complicated too. suffice it to say, that decision should not take center stage and become a negative aspect of this incident.

There was another theft at the NY White Plains show, involving this same individual and police involvment was not agreed on. While, unfortunate, we (the hobby) gave that same individual a "pass" - that's how gracious and forgiving this hobby community attempted to be !

Not now.

We are determined to no have a third incident.

 

[Lucille]

There is, in fact, an extradition process.

I myself would not buy five hundred dollar frogs and then just put them with my personal effects while I continued to look through the frog convention as the buyer apparently did, but that aside, the frogs were apparently taken and then returned, meanwhile causing a ruckus in the frog community.

Several posters have taken to slinging around incorrect legal theory. All that does is create an impression that the posters do not really know what they are talking about, and that impression does not serve your credibility.

I am not unsympathetic. I would be very upset if I spent that kind of money and had my critters taken. Try to summon all your evidence and let the readers decide whether they would in fact choose to do business with any of the named parties in the future.

 

[Philsuma]

There is, in fact, an extradition process.

I myself would not buy five hundred dollar frogs and then just put them with my personal effects while I continued to look through the frog convention as the buyer apparently did, but that aside, the frogs were apparently taken and then returned, meanwhile causing a ruckus in the frog community.

Several posters have taken to slinging around incorrect legal theory. All that does is create an impression that the posters do not really know what they are talking about, and that impression does not serve your credibility.

I am not unsympathetic. I would be very upset if I spent that kind of money and had my critters taken. Try to summon all your evidence and let the readers decide whether they would in fact choose to do business with any of the named parties in the future.

This was a personal domicile....house.....family......not a "frog convention".

We take great pride in our fellowship and hospitality at our meetings. Please don't begin to lecture us on crime prevention techniques.

What is the correct legalities then? As a retired State Trooper who prosecuted well over 150 theft cases - forgery, embezzlement, identity theft, retail theft, counterfeiting, bad checks...some of which were multi jurisdictional.....I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about.

 

[frogface]

This was not a convention. This was an intimate setting in a fellow frogger's home with a set number of attendees who knew each other. A small bbq at a friends house, if you will. Most would not feel the need to hide their belongings at such an event.

 

[Lucille]

This was not a convention. This was an intimate setting in a fellow frogger's home with a set number of attendees who knew each other. A small bbq at a friends house, if you will. Most would not feel the need to hide their belongings at such an event.

I can see that, I did not realize that this was someone's home. So y'all invited this guy to the bbq?