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Info Ben Siegel Troubles

rosebud945

rosebud945

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I am hesitant to post this because Ben has a reputation as a good guy, but if people have orders in or are involved in auctions, they need to know this, and his trouble here affects us all.

Broward Sheriff's Office
Benjamin Siegel
Monday, Jan 5, 2015 • Updated at 1:26 PM EST

A South Florida reptile store owner is facing battery and animal cruelty charges after authorities say he struck employees with a bearded dragon lizard and put it in his mouth.

Benjamin Herman Siegel, owner of Siegel Reptiles, was arrested Friday at the business on West Hillsboro Boulevard in Deerfield Beach, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report.

Body Found in Fort Lauderdale Waterway

Siegel, 40, remained behind bars without bond Monday, jail records showed. It was unknown if he has an attorney.

According to the report, video surveillance captured Siegel throwing the animal in the air and swinging it in the air multiple times. He also hit employees with the bearded dragon multiple times and threw Gatorade on them, the report said.
Weird News Photos: Man Busted With 41 Pounds of Pot
[NATL] Weird News Photos

"The defendant did unnecessarily torment the animal, handling the animal in a cruel and/or inhumane manner and intentionally committed an act to the animal which results in excessive and repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering to the animal," the report said.

The reptile store made national headlines in 2012 when a man died after consuming dozens of insects and worms during a roach-eating contest at the shop.
 
Thank you Rose for posting.
There's already so many BOI inquiries about him that I didn't want it to get washed away as just another one.
 
What do you mean by a free pass? Lots of people in this business have mental issues, but what do we do now that his includes animal cruelty? Should he be allowed to be in business after this?
 
No one has, of yet, defended Ben in this thread. He does, in fact, suffer a mental illness and his condition has deteriorated drastically over the past few years. Most people who have known Ben for decades say the man is hardly recognizable as who he once was.

Ben should have retired from the business several years ago, there is no disputing that.

However, he needs help and has needed help for a while. He has been arrested or detained several times in the past 24 months because of complete and total mental breakdowns, but all the state does is arrest him, book him and send him back on his way as do many states these days. They do not want to or cannot be bothered with dealing with someone that is mentally fractured.

It is not as simple as "Well, he abused a bearded dragon.".
 
But honestly since he has been arrested so many times for assault now, and now abusing an animal he needs to be locked up, forced meds, and better before even thinking of continuing his business. I also think he shouldn't be around the animals or public till its dealt with. I do believe I saw someone say he stopped taking his meds before that assault a few months ago, but that's hear say at best.
 
ElexisOrtiz said:
But honestly since he has been arrested so many times for assault now, and now abusing an animal he needs to be locked up, forced meds, and better before even thinking of continuing his business. I also think he shouldn't be around the animals or public till its dealt with. I do believe I saw someone say he stopped taking his meds before that assault a few months ago, but that's hear say at best.
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A few people have said he has gone on and off his meds due to severe fits of paranoia (going back to 2013), but whether or not this is true I cannot say for certain since one of the people saying this is his ex/estranged wife and they are not on the best of terms, to my knowledge.

The mental health care system in this country is largely a joke and Ben is likely going to just be held for a while, fined and released again. I believe the more recent assault charges were dropped by the individual and eventually the state as well (FL reserves the right to be the plaintiff in domestic violence situations). I may be wrong on that, however.

Regardless, as I said before, he desperately needs help and the business needs to either be turned over to someone else, sold or shut down. Ben is exhibiting escalating behavior that is going to lead to a psychosis that is going to end up causing irreparable damage if something is not done.
 
Agreed. Not to mention the kind of publicity this brings the reptile community.. I feel sorry for people with mental illness or disabilities, I suffer from a couple myself and my son is autistic so it's very stressful for me sometimes but most of us aren't out assaulting people or abusing animals. I know at least in some areas of the person is a danger to themselves or others they can be forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility. Which he is obviously a danger to others and animals. Something needs done before he really hurts someone or himself.
 
ElexisOrtiz said:
Agreed. Not to mention the kind of publicity this brings the reptile community.. I feel sorry for people with mental illness or disabilities, I suffer from a couple myself and my son is autistic so it's very stressful for me sometimes but most of us aren't out assaulting people or abusing animals. I know at least in some areas of the person is a danger to themselves or others they can be forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility. Which he is obviously a danger to others and animals. Something needs done before he really hurts someone or himself.
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I agree with you. I suspect Ben has more going on than just bi-polar disorder, but there is no telling. I dealt with someone who was improperly medicated and unmedicated with bi-polar disorder for a few years and she was violent. As with most mental illnesses, there are degrees of severity and different triggers that exacerbate the situation.

Running the type of business he does is likely not helping, it is a high stress, fast pace, constant pushing sort of job. Inventory is constantly going in and out. It is definitely not the same as just a breeding facility or hobbyist facility.
 
While that's true, the person needs to WANT the help. And if the meds aren't working talk to your doctor and get on different ones. They won't always get it right the first time which is why communication between doctor and patient is key. From everything I've seen, I don't know the man personally so this is pure opinion on articles and what people have said, it doesn't seem like he WANTS help, meds, etc. But again that's my personal opinion on what info we have. I wish I had the screen shot someone posted of him going off on a customer for no reason what so ever. Can't remember where it was posted either, an employee who was running the business at that time had to apologize for his behavior. I think it may have been on Brian's post about the last time he was arrested (brian from bhb) if I can find it I'll post it. But I don't know how much good that will do, or if it's allowed since it really isn't about this incident. It really would just go to show character I guess..
 
ElexisOrtiz said:
Agreed. Not to mention the kind of publicity this brings the reptile community.
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This is my concern. We already fight huge prevailing negative myths in mainstream culture regarding both reptiles and reptile keepers. It doesn't help matters that a guy with a good reputation went off and abused, not only the beardie, but the people he beat with it. This is more damning for us than if it were a blatantly obvious bad guy.
 
rosebud945 said:
What do you mean by a free pass? Lots of people in this business have mental issues, but what do we do now that his includes animal cruelty? Should he be allowed to be in business after this?
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Re-calibrate your sarcasm meter and then read Steve's post again.

I didn't know that Ben has bipolar disorder. If that's the case then I hope he gets the help he needs. I have two friends who suffer from this disease, and unfortunately with both I've had to help clean up legal messes they've caused. I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone.
 
I completely agree. We already fight so many battles against people who don't understand why we love reptiles so much. I saw a lot of reasoning on the Facebook BOI regarding Ben's life where I found out about this but they deleted the link completely.
 

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ElexisOrtiz said:
While that's true, the person needs to WANT the help. And if the meds aren't working talk to your doctor and get on different ones. They won't always get it right the first time which is why communication between doctor and patient is key. From everything I've seen, I don't know the man personally so this is pure opinion on articles and what people have said, it doesn't seem like he WANTS help, meds, etc. But again that's my personal opinion on what info we have. I wish I had the screen shot someone posted of him going off on a customer for no reason what so ever. Can't remember where it was posted either, an employee who was running the business at that time had to apologize for his behavior. I think it may have been on Brian's post about the last time he was arrested (brian from bhb) if I can find it I'll post it. But I don't know how much good that will do, or if it's allowed since it really isn't about this incident. It really would just go to show character I guess..
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It could be argued Ben's actions in the past two years are the actions of a man looking for help. Not everyone is mentally capable of simply asking, particularly when they have dealt with a mental disorder their entire lives. Bi-polar disorder is not something he was recently diagnosed with.

His erratic behavior including verbal abuse and violent actions are not like the Ben from ten years ago, you can ask anyone who has known him on a personal or connected professional level for some decades. He is, in the simplest of terms, not in his right mind and while people may see that as people making excuses for him, it is not; it is simply the reason, even if they disagree with it or not.

What really needs to be known is how the people around Ben have been trying to help him, if at all or if they have simply been ignoring the fits and going on as if it is business as usual.
 
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