Stolen Reptiles stolen in NYC...Fellow members please help

I was looking thru craigslist in my home state of NY and came across this. I informed the guy i am posting this on fauna. REAL heart breaker. IF anyone can help.

Hello fellow herpers.

A little about myself. I've been keeping reptiles since I was 14 years old. I work a simple 9-5 that after supporting my family, doesn't leave me with much disposable income. Any little I can save, I use to buy supplies and build up my reptile collection. Its taken me over 10 years and more than $40,000 to get my collection to where it was. Last week my house was broken into. The vandals stole 40 ball pythons, 20 boas, 6 monitors, 2 beardies, 1 blue tree monitor, and 1 african grey parrot. I am laying my heart on the table here, in hopes of finding a few out there who will help me make a stand against thieves who just want to make a quick buck without ever working for it. If it happened to me, it can happen to anyone out there. These animals where more than just snakes or breeding projects, they where my pets and I loved them all. Right now I can't barely sleep not knowing where they're at or what they're going through. This is suppose to be fun, its a hobby, its not the freaking drug trade. People shouldn't have to live in fear of being robbed for their pets. I ask anyone that has dealt with these people to come forward. Any information you can give me will be helpful. If you purchased any animals from them, you can keep them if you'd like, or I'll give you the money you spent on them plus a reward. I just want information that will lead to the arrest of these individuals, and the safety of my other animals in their possession. There's no telling what conditions those animals are being kept while the heartless thieves try to unload them.

With everyone's help we can clean up the industry so low life individuals like this won't do it to someone else. Below is a list of some of the animals. Please email or give me a call with any information. 718-775-0100 Kelvin (any info will be kept confidential).

Boa
hypo(s), normal, sunglows, albino

lizards
nile monitors, blue tree monitor, tegu, beardies

ball pythons
caramels, axanthics, albinos, pastel pied, lemon blast, lessers, mojaves, butter ghost, ghosts, pastel genetic stripe, het pied females, pastel females, pastel lesser, spiders and some normals


(wow....what the hell man. I truly can hope they got bit to hell atleast. hope this turns out good. And some of you Nutty investigators on here i know you will see something on those other pages or here. I posted it here cause this is the one community (as in this webpage) i have been so impressed by and respect the most. And the only one i spend hours on so i have gotten to know some patterns. If ANYONE can help i know you will. Thank you guys)

THE GREEK!!!

oh his email addy is kelvinferdez@gmail.com.

Stavros,

If you are talking to the guy, perhaps let him know that if he has pictures of his critters to get a file together and attach it here. If they are being sold a few at a time, it might be difficult for buyers to tell whether they are purchasing an animal from his collection, pictures will help identify animals for sale as his.
If he actually lives in NYC, I'm not sure he will be successful in persuading anyone to arrest these guys, as some of those critters, I believe, are not legal to possess in NYC.
Can you convince him to register and post here? The more info he provides, the better chance someone can help him find out what happened.

Will do. There was an arrest made. One of them was caught. One on the loose but half the animals are still gone. Im gonna talk to him later. thanks.

Hi Stavros,

Thank you for all your support man. Sorry I didn't email you sooner. But as you can expect its been very hectic for me the last few days. The police made an arrest on one of the suspects, but he refuses to turn over his other accomplice. So far, I've gotten about 80% of the snakes back. But they kept or sold the higer end stuff. I'm still down about $8,500-$10,000 in snakes and the afican grey parrot. The ones I got back where extremly dehydrated. They were all kept in the same sack, with all of them urinating and defecating on each other. I'm pretty sure thats how they kept them the whole time.

I thank you for posting on fauna. I intended to do so, but I don't have a paid account with them. And money is a bit tight right now. I'm spending what I have left, to get my family out of the bronx, we are all set to move to new jersey next week. Thanks again for all your help. I'm sorry to hear about your can corso's. I hope you got to prosecute those guys. Thiefs are low life's to begin with but someone who steals live animals is especially low.

Thank again for your help,

Kelvin



This is his latest email to me recieved today.

Wow, this is heartbreaking. I seriously hope they catch that other scumbag who stole from him, and that they are able to recover all of the other animals while they are still living. I seriously cannot believe that people can live with themselves doing that kind of harm to other people. It is horrible and disgusting. It is so sad that it has come to a point that he has to offer a reward plus the cost of the animals. I seriously hope those theives rot in a cell for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, knowing how our prison system works, they would only get a minimal sentence I am sure. Please post pictures of the missing animals, so the people here can possibly help in the recovery of them if they are being sold anywhere.

I have tried to get pics from him. He is abit frantic honestly. He is moving. etc etc.....not much help on the pics but im still asking for them

You know Brendan i agree with you. Its heart breaking for the owner of animals. I would freak. I love all my animals. I feed them, clean them like my damn kid. I dont call them breeders.....I dont call it breeding. I call it snake sex and IM HAVING KIDS!!! when my first clutch popped out. Someone a long time ago stole cane corso pups and mom and dad from me. It was one of the SICKEST feelings i ever had. Worse then the day i walked out and didnt see my Mustang GT where i parked it. But then again.....i also know what it is to be a thief. I was once there too. And no...there is no regard in the least bit as to what that person is loosing or the value to him. I can only wish that one of those animals were a gaboon viper and it bit thru the bag on their hands or legs. Im glad he got a few back. I wish he got them all.

I have talked to Kelvin a couple times now.
He has gotten 80% of his stuff back but is out the high end stuff.One arrest and the guy is not giving up his buddy in crime,at the moment.
He says the reptiles were kept in 1 bag and lots were dehydrated. He say besides that they seem to be ok at the moment.
If i need to post the email,let me know. I still have it.
He has a family too and lived in the Bronx and is moving right away.
We also talked about some security precautions in his next house.He says he will be getting an alarm and a sercurity camera.
Rich

Wow. It takes years & a lot of money to build a collection like his. I'm glad someone was caught and he did get some of the collection back. I cannot imagine how sick he is over this. Thieves are idiots...They always talk....Maybe he will get them all back soon. This post is a good alert about theft of reptiles. I'm just a pet hobbiest with an Albino and a Spider. It would break my heart to loose them because they are pets.