• Responding to email notices you receive.
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  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

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    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Bad Guy Michael Gentry (Scam artist)

Let me know if I can pitch in, I will not have any available balls until the new year, but I do have some old heating supplies with thermostats.

While it is unlikely, if the person does decide to return the snakes, my offer to help with shipping is still open.
 
Re: talking to his mother
I wish I'd known that conversation was happening, lol; I would have sent you a question or two.
 
hhmoore said:
Re: talking to his mother
I wish I'd known that conversation was happening, lol; I would have sent you a question or two.
Click to expand...

She was nice enough that if you had a follow up question I'm sure she would be fine with it.
 
Mistyck said:
No crap. Which is why I pointed that out in the second posting after that. That's kind of what I was getting at when I asked him that question. :rolleyes:



No, I figured that he was WAY under age and should have never entered into an "agreement" with someone.



And "the one" you quoted will blast the kid because he shouldn't have entered into any agreement at his age, and he doesn't need to be the one fighting this, his parents do, and if they choose not to, then no one else needs to put their neck out for a minor. If the parents do not think that this child needs his snakes back (by not helping him), then what are they going to do if he actually got them back?

Maybe his parents are trying to teach him a lesson? Either way his parents are irresponsible as well for letting their minor child enter into a "contract/agreement" with someone. It's a cluster any way you look at it.
Click to expand...

No, your quote that I responded to was to the effect: "Neither side here knows how to honor a contract"

And my intent was to say that is why minors can't contract...
 
Robert Walker said:
Okay everyone. I did in fact just get off the phone with Mike's mother for the past 20-25 minutes. She is a very nice, articulate and concerned mother. She basically confirmed everything that Mike has said previously. She even knew about him lying earlier in the beginning of the thread. After speaking with her, I have zero doubts that Mike is who says he is and is being honest with us all now.

She added that the scammer had been harassing their family in the early hours of the morning on Mike's parents phone numbers too.

Mike has come clean and is trying to get this worked out. If we are going to help moving forward and direct attention to someone lets focus on the scammer instead.

So what help can be done on this thread now?

1. Mike is out his snakes. Mike will never get his snakes back either with or without police involvement. I will take care of this one on a personal level and help him out soon.

2. The only thing on the thread in my eyes left to do, is to flush the scammer out, expose him and isolate him to the herp world.
Click to expand...

With all you've done to investigate this issue, I feel your time is being maliciously wasted. The lying apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Now all of a sudden the parents are willing to be involved? Let's recap. The OP comes here to warn people about a scammer. Ships illegally, has an unsigned bs contract and a business partner, who has only posted here one time, who he splits profits with yet only has a few snakes which he sent to a guy he doesn't know. Was this kid scammed? Yes! Who's fault is it? As for Fangthane, your damn right his parents would be under scrutiny here. RIGHTFULLY SO!
 
Dial back the hostility a notch or two, please.
Mike has made some foolish mistakes and choices; but there's only so much he can do to remedy them at this point in time. Should his parents have been participants in this transaction from the start? Absolutely...but that wouldn't necessarily have avoided this situation.
I'm not suggesting that he needs to be coddled due to his age; but it isn't unreasonable to try to move forward.
 
For the record, I respect Mr.Walkers intentions and contributions to this issue and this thread. That being said, the OP's parents have had the option and ability to not only participate in this thread, but to also participate in their son's problem. Lastly, I'd like to know how and why the accused got the parent's phone numbers.
 
hhmoore said:
Dial back the hostility a notch or two, please.
Mike has made some foolish mistakes and choices; but there's only so much he can do to remedy them at this point in time. Should his parents have been participants in this transaction from the start? Absolutely...but that wouldn't necessarily have avoided this situation.
I'm not suggesting that he needs to be coddled due to his age; but it isn't unreasonable to try to move forward.
Click to expand...

I'll make it three notches. I do think that if he had any parental guidance, he would not have made this deal to begin with. And aside from exposing the scammer, the only "moving forward" will be a lesson learned. Judging from what I've seen here, that's unlikely. Sorry for my overanimation. Thanks for the poke.
 
There is going to be people who crucify the kid no matter what proof is posted. He lied and admitted it. I'm sure he has learned a couple of valuable lesson's. Hopefully he get's out of here without submitting Blood, Urine and Semen sample.
 
Chris Kennard said:
With all you've done to investigate this issue, I feel your time is being maliciously wasted. The lying apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Now all of a sudden the parents are willing to be involved? ... As for Fangthane, your damn right his parents would be under scrutiny here. RIGHTFULLY SO!
Click to expand...

Chris Kennard said:
I'd like to know how and why the accused got the parent's phone numbers.
Click to expand...

Chris Kennard said:
I do think that if he had any parental guidance, he would not have made this deal to begin with.
Click to expand...

I personally wanted to speak to a parent so that I made sure that I was not wasting my time and entering the world of complete Jerry Springer. The parents have been involved since the beginning in telling their son 'not' to do the trade and that it was foolish. Despite their efforts to give him counsel not to, he went ahead and did it on his own (a teenager). They in turn are perfectly fine letting him learn his lesson the hard way. Only after Mike begged his mother to talk to me did she. She clearly stated that she has other obligations and children to attend to and that Mike went against her advice and he was going to have to live with it. The scammer got the parents phone numbers because that is their family phone line that Mike used. The parents are pretty upset at Mike for giving out family information as well. Mike is in hot water with his parents for dragging them into this. She did confirm the family ties to law enforcement as well and that they all came to the absolute conclusion that the snakes are gone and their is nothing that can be done about it. Being in her shoes (I'm a parent of several children myself) if my kid told me I need to get on forum and defend my parenting to a bunch of strangers after I told my kid not do something... I would let them learn their lesson the hard way too.

Mike has flat out lied to us all, period. I think Mike should learn his lesson the hard way too, and he 'hopefully' is right now. I have one last push left in me on this thread, if any thing to help the parents out and prove to myself and others that there are still good people out there that are willing to help out even when there is zero reward, PLUS I hate scammers!
 
Robert Walker said:
I personally wanted to speak to a parent so that I made sure that I was not wasting my time and entering the world of complete Jerry Springer. The parents have been involved since the beginning in telling their son 'not' to do the trade and that it was foolish. Despite their efforts to give him counsel not to, he went ahead and did it on his own (a teenager). They in turn are perfectly fine letting him learn his lesson the hard way. Only after Mike begged his mother to talk to me did she. She clearly stated that she has other obligations and children to attend to and that Mike went against her advice and he was going to have to live with it. The scammer got the parents phone numbers because that is their family phone line that Mike used. The parents are pretty upset at Mike for giving out family information as well. Mike is in hot water with his parents for dragging them into this. She did confirm the family ties to law enforcement as well and that they all came to the absolute conclusion that the snakes are gone and their is nothing that can be done about it. Being in her shoes (I'm a parent of several children myself) if my kid told me I need to get on forum and defend my parenting to a bunch of strangers after I told my kid not do something... I would let them learn their lesson the hard way too.

Mike has flat out lied to us all, period. I think Mike should learn his lesson the hard way too, and he 'hopefully' is right now. I have one last push left in me on this thread, if any thing to help the parents out and prove to myself and others that there are still good people out there that are willing to help out even when there is zero reward, PLUS I hate scammers!
Click to expand...

Good enough Robert. Thank you. That being the case, I apologize to Mike and his parents for my accusations. I don't however regret grilling him and calling him out on his lies and truly hope he has learned alot here. Mike, good luck in your herping future. Be straight with with people, and there will be rewards in the future. Hopefully we'll see good guy posts on you in the future.
 
Robert Walker said:
Okay everyone. I did in fact just get off the phone with Mike's mother for the past 20-25 minutes. She is a very nice, articulate and concerned mother. She basically confirmed everything that Mike has said previously. She even knew about him lying earlier in the beginning of the thread. After speaking with her, I have zero doubts that Mike is who says he is and is being honest with us all now.

She added that the scammer had been harassing their family in the early hours of the morning on Mike's parents phone numbers too.

Mike has come clean and is trying to get this worked out. If we are going to help moving forward and direct attention to someone lets focus on the scammer instead.

So what help can be done on this thread now?

1. Mike is out his snakes. Mike will never get his snakes back either with or without police involvement. I will take care of this one on a personal level and help him out soon.

2. The only thing on the thread in my eyes left to do, is to flush the scammer out, expose him and isolate him to the herp world.
Click to expand...
"Mike's parent's phone numbers too" made me think that they had seperate lines not involved with the deal. That's why I questioned it.
 
Robert Walker said:
Mike has flat out lied to us all, period. I think Mike should learn his lesson the hard way too, and he 'hopefully' is right now. I have one last push left in me on this thread, if any thing to help the parents out and prove to myself and others that there are still good people out there that are willing to help out even when there is zero reward, PLUS I hate scammers!
Click to expand...

I appreciate that you made the call, and it does seem that his recent account about his age and family is legit.
Mike has his shortcomings (as do we all) but after your call, I think I will wait and see how he proceeds.
Hopefully he will rise above any further temptations to lie, and I am including in this any temptation to fib when making shipments in the future.
I hate scammers as well, and while the prospect of recovery is bleak right now, there is always hope.
 
Robert Walker said:
I personally wanted to speak to a parent so that I made sure that I was not wasting my time and entering the world of complete Jerry Springer. The parents have been involved since the beginning in telling their son 'not' to do the trade and that it was foolish. Despite their efforts to give him counsel not to, he went ahead and did it on his own (a teenager). They in turn are perfectly fine letting him learn his lesson the hard way. Only after Mike begged his mother to talk to me did she. She clearly stated that she has other obligations and children to attend to and that Mike went against her advice and he was going to have to live with it. The scammer got the parents phone numbers because that is their family phone line that Mike used. The parents are pretty upset at Mike for giving out family information as well. Mike is in hot water with his parents for dragging them into this. She did confirm the family ties to law enforcement as well and that they all came to the absolute conclusion that the snakes are gone and their is nothing that can be done about it. Being in her shoes (I'm a parent of several children myself) if my kid told me I need to get on forum and defend my parenting to a bunch of strangers after I told my kid not do something... I would let them learn their lesson the hard way too.

Mike has flat out lied to us all, period. I think Mike should learn his lesson the hard way too, and he 'hopefully' is right now. I have one last push left in me on this thread, if any thing to help the parents out and prove to myself and others that there are still good people out there that are willing to help out even when there is zero reward, PLUS I hate scammers!
Click to expand...
anymore info I can give?
 
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