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Bad Guy Beware! !!! Graveexotics/Alex graves /possibly Alex may

J

jaybol7

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Beware! !!!
Just figured I'd give everyone a little insight on a scammer! I met this guy as l was looking for leachies. He contacted me to trade 2 adult male leachianus for my male yearling b&w tegu and a 4 yr old cuban rock iguana. Big boy. He's missing half of his front right (as you're looking at him) (technically his left) middle finger by the way. Well I shipped first and he's gone in the wind. Met him thru hoobly, he's from joplin Missouri. The name he gave was alex graves (could be alex may). His screen name was "Graveexotics"! Says he's a tattoo artist!
 

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This is interesting. Your cuban is up for sale/trade under the name Thomas Ryder in Joplin, Missouri. I was looking at it yesterday and contacted him about it but didn't hear back. I saw the same animal up for sale by you here on Fauna. Definitely the same animal - pay special attention to the toe on the left foot in the attachments below. I hope these screenshots help - I suspected a scam and was waiting for something to pop up. Sorry you got robbed.

Here is his facebook profile (The cover photo doesn't look to be his, so this may just be another alias):
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010223919207
On his profile it claims he used to work at "Hard Times Tattoo", went to East Newton High and is originally from Phoenix, Arizona.
 

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I just wanted to add that if you can post the email you used to contact him, the address you sent the animals to, phone numbers and any other important information, it might help in tracking aliases and exposing this guy.
 
Just check out his FB; it looks like he's taken the ad down. In the event he deactivates that FB, here are some groups he belongs to. Might help to check those out and see if he's trying to sell your Big Boy there as well. Heck, join them and warn those members as well.
 

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Thank you everyone. Here is his cell, his supposed wife's cell, and the address. His # I contacted him thru 4173470719 , His supposed wifes # 4178127271 and his home address is 1925 Dirt Road, Joplin, Mo, 64801
 
Every single one of those pics on his face book page are mine that I sent to him. I can show you all everything that is in those photos. The blue rug in my reptile room, everything. That is even my hand feeding the iggy crickets from my hand. I put the puppy pads down in his cage. Un freaking believable!
 
That's my arm holding him up. Look at the tattoo. It's saint Michael. I'm a retired NYPD officer.
 

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He's posted the ad in the "Rare and Uncommon Reptiles Classifieds" group.
 
Also, a quick search also shows that the Dirt Road address you posted is a mobile home park, called Country Acres Mobile Home Community @ (417) 624-7759. Here is their FB page. You might call and inquire about Alex Graves. There are a couple by that name in Joplin in their 20's. (I'm still digging, lol)
 
I did all that too. Lol. I appreciate the help. You really don't know how grateful I am to see so many people willing to help. Really means alot
 
I even checked all the local tattoo shops to see if any had an alex graves doing tattoos there. The closest I found was an alex may at one of them. I saved all the information. I'm really considering getting together with a couple of my guys from the fugitive enforcement division of the nypd and taking a little weekend trip to good old joplin Missouri!
 
He picked the wrong guy to steal from! Good luck in getting your iguana back....It sucks that people do stuff like this. I'm glad you posted so that others are aware and can spread the word.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
jaybol7 said:
I even checked all the local tattoo shops to see if any had an alex graves doing tattoos there. The closest I found was an alex may at one of them. I saved all the information. I'm really considering getting together with a couple of my guys from the fugitive enforcement division of the nypd and taking a little weekend trip to good old joplin Missouri!
Click to expand...

If you're able to coordinate with the local PD it would be great. Being retired LEO is perfect. If you're able to successfully resolve this, it would be awesome if you were able to provide advice and connections to others. Unfortunately the means to track and recover are mostly out of reach to the regular "Joe Schmoes" on this forum, and local law enforcement often feels unapproachable at best. If you read a lot of these threads, the guilty parties are often rarely if ever held accountable.

Good luck with everything!
 
I don't read it often, but now that it has happened to me, I know it's a shitty reason, but I will definitely start reading more often. And if I can help in any way, I'd be more then happy to. I know local law enforcement think of it as BS. But, when you're talking hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars, it kinda means alot. Just that the average local law enforcement officers don't really know much or care much about these types of pets or breeders. If it's not cats and dogs they could care less nor do they even understand. I am personal friends with the chief of the NYPD. We use to play hockey together for a long time. He was in charge or the fugitive enforcement division and a few guys that were on the team are still in it. Trust me, if I really wanted this guy, he'd be found. I'm just not sure if it's worth it or not. Reason being if I do find the guy, first thing is I'm gonna want to beat him pretty badly, lol. So I'm not sure it's worth going to jail over.
 
If you do have any questions or concerns, especially here in NY, I'd be glad to help in anyway I can and also give whatever advice I can to you or fellow herpers on this forum. For you, my number is 8454679916. As I said, should this happen again to another (which unfortunately I'm sure it's gonna), feel free to contact me and I can try and pull some strings wherever I can to point you in the right direction.
 
Thanks again everyone. Appreciate all the help and support. I'm here to help in any way I can. We need to stick together. It's the only way we can overcome!
 
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