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Info Buyer Beware Brian Towe California

Hi Jane,

Great catch on the picture. Which one was it that he emailed you? Was it the one that states MALE "Pied - planned breedings this Fall to 100% het pied females" right on the front page of their BP section?
 
Yes Dennis that would be the one.

In reference to others about the newspaper. I told Alison that if I were in her place that I would send him the pics because if he turned around & sent them to me that would be even more evidence that he was scamming. He did so in a matter of a couple hours. She put her wedding ring in the picture for ID as well as the newspaper was MS not CA & there was no way for him to produce either.

Pics he sent me
Stolen from site
snowflake._._.jpg

Requested Pic
snowflake.JPG
 
I'm still in contact with this guy with the intent of trying to obtain as much info as I can so he can be exposed before I let him know I'm aware of his shady practices.

Here's his home address:

Brian Towe
13221 4th st
Hickman ca, 95323.
 
Here are the emails between this guy and me.


het pieds....‏
From: brian towe ([email protected])

Sent: Sat 8/15/09 1:48 PM
To: [email protected]
1 attachment
--static-...gif (2.2 KB)

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How are the het pieds doing? I just wanted to let you know that I have a clutch of 2.3 %100 het pieds I am letting go super cheap. I have been just sitting on these guys and now I have to sell, have way to many projects....Times are tough in the snake business right now so I will be offering them at $400 for all five of them....


From: Juan Gracia <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 7:25:14 PM
Subject: RE: het pieds....

Hi, my het pieds are doing pretty well. I might be interested in that clutch. How old is that clutch of het pieds? Also what are their average weights, and will they come with photo ID guaranteeing their genetics? I guess let me know and thanks for the offer.

Juan

Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:37:53 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: het pieds....
To: [email protected]
All around 150 grams...I can garantee genetics.


From: Juan Gracia <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 11:14:48 PM
Subject: payment

Oh yes, My paypal account is currently locked up due to somebody hacking in to it and trying to steal quite a bit of money. since I can't use paypal to pay I'll have to mail you the payment. So if you would please send me your mailing info and your full name so I can write and mail the check? Thanks.

Juan

From: brian towe ([email protected])

Sent: Mon 8/17/09 3:10 AM
To: Juan Gracia ([email protected])
Brian Towe
13221 4th st
Hickman ca, 95323.

If you arent able to pay by paypal I will accept a postal money order. Total will be $400 plus $60 shipping overnite to your door. As soon as payment is recieved I will ship same or next day. I will get you some pics by tomorrow afternoon.
 
I am the co-owner of the male piebald in the picture. Allison contacted me telling me that Brian had contacted her wanting to know if she wanted to sell him but she told him he is not for sale. He kept going on about how nice he was and asked her for some more pictures of him. Jane then contacted Allison and asked if he belonged to her. She had googled the pic and traced it back to Allisons website. That is when the plan was devised to send him the pic with the ring in it to prove that he was ours. Allison sent the pic to Jane then to Brian and Brian forwarded it to Jane presenting it as the parent of the hets he was trying to trade.

Mike Stites
Crix-n-Wiggles LLC
 
I've been pretty busy with work so I hadn't been able to post the last emails between Brian and me but here they are



Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:52:28 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: payment
To: [email protected]
Whats up you still want them? If not let me know so I can sell them...ty


From: Juan Gracia <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 3:25:17 AM
Subject: RE: payment

Well Brian I was actually very interested in obtaining that group of animals from you until I ran your name through the BOI and found out how you sent stolen pictures of a male pied ball and tried to pass them off as the dam for the animals you’re offering to both myself and Jane Whited of TN. Who according to you is still very interested in the females of the group only? Even after s he’s contacted you and told you she’s exposing you on the BOI. He’s even managed to find the real owner of the pied ball you tried to pass off as your’s and figured out the animals you’re selling are actually only 66% hets. Feel free to stop by the BOI anytime you like so you can provide any explanations, excuses, complaints, etc… regarding this matter. Here’s the link: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142584

Oh and in case you don’t understand what I’m saying: NO THANK YOU, I’M NO LONGER INTERESTED IN DOING ANY FURTHER BUSINESS WITH YOU.




From: brian towe ([email protected])
Sent: Wed 8/19/09 10:59 PM
To: Juan Gracia ([email protected])

Thats all good...I sold them yesterday anyways to a fella in fresno...they were all %100 hets. I put the pics on because I have no paperwork on them but I know for cetain they are %100 hets so why would I sell them as %66 hets....your loss and for the other two balls I sold you they are also %100 hets....I have already checked out all that he said and yeah they werent my pics but....Oh well im not in this for a business or anything...Just love the snakes.
 
A postal money order, through the mail is federal mail fraud. Should have sent it to him, then provide this proof to the authorities! People like this need to be stoned!
 
Kingetula said:
A postal money order, through the mail is federal mail fraud. Should have sent it to him, then provide this proof to the authorities! People like this need to be stoned!
Click to expand...

That's the problem, I think most of them are...
 
Im not a bad person

Ok!!!! I did make a very big mistake and I know its going to take some time to get people to realize I am not a bad person. I had some hets that were up for sale last year and I was having a hard time. I knew of these snakes genetics and didnt want to sell them as norms. I have bought and sold snakes in the past with no problems. The hets I sold last year are %100 hets and soon everyone will know when they prove out....I did something I should of never done and I regret it very mutch. I am not a scammer. I just have a few snakes and love everything to do with ball python's.
 
Brian, a mistake is accidentally locking your keys in the car. What you did was in no way a mistake, so if you "regret" what you did, then you can start by not trying to minimize your intentionally fraudulent actions. Good people don't attempt to commit fraud, but bad ones most certainly do.
Instead of offering weak regrets, why don't you explain why you did this?, why don't you have actual pictures of the actual animals that produced these questionable hets?
 
hets

It was truly a mistake I will never make again. At the time I seen no harm in it since I knew the liniage of these snakes. I did not have a pic of the parents and she was demanding pics no pics no deal so thats why I did it. Im sorry. Now I've ruined my name all because of this one little mistake. I am owning up to what I did. I made the choice in doing it. What elsecan I do to show im sorry? Can it ever be made right? I dont want to give up this great hobby.
 
Brian Towe said:
It was truly a mistake I will never make again. At the time I seen no harm in it since I knew the liniage of these snakes. I did not have a pic of the parents and she was demanding pics no pics no deal so thats why I did it. Im sorry. Now I've ruined my name all because of this one little mistake. I am owning up to what I did. I made the choice in doing it. What elsecan I do to show im sorry? Can it ever be made right? I dont want to give up this great hobby.
Click to expand...
Brian, stealing someone else's pictures in order to make a sale is not a "mistake" what it is, is stealing in order to conduct fraud.

While I do give you credit for coming here and trying to explain what happened there are still a few things you should do to, as you asked "make it right":

Have you contacted the owners of the pictures you stole and profusely apologized to them and asked if there is anything you can do to make this right?

How about offering to buy back the animals you sold that were intentionally misrepresented?

...and how about answering this question I posed earlier:

Why don't you have actual pictures of the actual animals that produced these questionable hets?
 
I never used the pic on any add. just to the person that insisted on a pic of the mother with a dated newspaper and that is where I messed up. and it was for a trade...(boa) I dont have pics of the parents thats why I had none posted on any add...I would buy back the hets no prob.
 
Forgive me for not rereading this whole thread - what are the babies that you sold as 100% hets? Are they actually (not in your opinion, but in reality) 100% hets? Or are they possible hets?
If they are not really 100% het, you should - at the very least - offer to take them back with a full refund & pay return shipping. (Some would argue that some additional compensation would be appropriate, since the buyer has fed and cared for these misrepresented animals.) If the buyer opts to keep them at this point, it should be under one of two conditions: 1) they are made aware of the truth, and refunded a portion of their payment (the price difference, at the time of sale, between 100% hets, and whatever they are), or 2) you agree to guarantee that the animals ARE hets, with an agreed upon compensation should they fail to "prove".
 
This is just my opinion but it would seem like perhaps you’re once again trying to sell some animals out there and this thread is coming back to haunt you? You didn’t much seem to care about explaining yourself back when this thread was started and you were made aware of it (6 months ago) but all of a sudden you want to come on here and try to diffuse the situation? Worst of all you can’t even come out and give a decent apology to at the very least the person you’ve stolen pics from but instead you want to explain away your trespasses as if they were nothing. Doesn’t sound to me like a very sincere apology to begin with but it definitely sounds like the BOI is doing it’s job.:thumbsup:
 
What I find hard to believe is that you would come on here after all of this time and try to pass off what you did as a "little mistake". What you did was not a spur of the moment decision, but a calculated scam over a long period of time. You used the picture of our snake not once but twice and represented it as yours. You would never have received the second picture of the pied with the newspaper and ring in it if we weren't using it to catch you red handed. Fortunately it worked and you were caught in this scam and exposed for what you are.

Mike Stites
 
Well I guess Brian wasn't as sorry as he was alleging to be. Not only could he not even manage to apologize to the people he stole pics from but once the people he tried to scam appeared back on this thread he wasn't even man enough to take the heat and decided to crawl back to whatever sewer he came out of hibernation from. Real sorry indeed, probably more sorry he dredged up this thread back up than anything else.

So not only did he try to pull a well thought out and blatant scam but 6 months late here he is again trying to dupe people. This time trying to get folks to believe hes become a honest man. Had he left this alone it probably wouldn't have been as damaging as coming on here and essentially trying to pull a scam on a scam. Good job Brian you managed to make a bad situation worst.

It's interesting how these kinds of people usually tend to be their own worst enemy
 
New Email & User name

He is using the email [email protected]. He is using the username customsnakes22 on bp.net. He is also listing on craigslist. Not aware of any others at this time but thought this should be updated. If you pull up his old bp.net account btrout56 you will see his birthdate, occupation etc is the same. I received an email from someone this morning that brought this to my attention as well as the surinam boa that he's listing isn't a Barry Miller. I didn't post the email because there was no name in it. If you guys wish me to post it let me know & I will. I was hoping after he finally came on here and posted that he was going to be honest but that's not what it looks like now.
 
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