BEWARE OF JEREMY STARK: THE COMPLETE STORY

[Shaggy of BDD]

To all herpers,

This incident is being posted in order to prevent anyone from suffering the same fate as I did. Those who know me personally and through the business can attest to my honesty and straight business practices. Anyone needing information on this character or wishes to ask me questions directly, please feel free. This is the nutshell.

Jeremy Stark and I met over the KINGSNAKE CLASSIFIEDS, he was interested in a snake I had and I said I'd hold it for him. After speaking to him on the phone for a couple of days we got to know eachother. He mentioned that he lived in a "rich" town and that he could get awesome prices for animals from stores and buyers that he had sold to for many years. He bred corns and hondurans and got 5-6 times more than anyone I ever heard of. He sounded real genuine and had me believing the whole bit. It sounded to good to be true, but I thought the return warranted the risk. That was my first mistake. He said that if I sent him animals he would sell them and we would split the sale. He sent me multiple price lists for what he was charging the stores and selling his animals at. He had supposedly called his "stores" and advised them of his next shipment. They said they had cash in hand. So I took a gamble and sent him an order of 8 snakes. When he received them he said that his buyers were waiting to buy them the day they arrived,(SATURDAY, Oct 5, 2002).

He then led me to beleive that he sold some but not all. He has already made $7200 in sales in 2 days and was going to send me my money via Postal Cashiers check. When the money order never arrived on Tuesday, he said it went regular mail. He then said that he needed more animals because he had buyers for more snakes I had here. So I took yet another risk and sent him about 14 or so animals. By this time I had sent him over $2000 worth of animals that I had purchsed myself. Thurday, Friday,...every day a new excuse. "Oh, my grandma went to UPS with 2 more money orders for $4000 total for you this morning". I was going to send you all the money Western Union but the place I went to was closed and my dad's car is messed up!". That never happened. 2 weeks went by of lies and excuses. Finally I got his parents on the phone and they confirmed that he was lying about alot of things. I comfronted him and he admittedly sold the animals and pocketed the money. Then he said "no more lies", moved to his girls house and vowed to pay me back, "even if it took pawning the Big Screen TV he JUST BOUGHT!!". He said he would send me the animals he still had (5 of 23) and $3,600 for my troubles. Well, what do you think happened. He avoids my calls now and it's been a week and he tells his girlfriend to tell me to talk to his lawyer, because since we do not have a written agreement signed, he don't owe me jack!!" He talked to his lawyer and since I don't have anything in writting, there will be no jail time and I have no case. During the entire 3 week ordeal I received 1 Western Union for $400 and 5 animals were returned to me yesterday. If anyone is interested I can give a list of the animals that were sent, included were CB'02 Tangerine Het. Ghost pair from Terry Dunham, Yearling Albino Nelsoni, 5 adults corns, 10 '02 babies....etc, all totalling well over $3000. I originally sent him 23 animals and the ones he returned were the lesser valued. Totalling to less than $500 retail. While the animals that he sold and pocketed of mine are worth over $2500. He feels that since he moved out of his parents home and I don't have a contract that he is going to get away with this. Maybe in Kansas, but in NY we don't play with other people's money.  At this time, I am working other angles with my lawyer and the Independence, Missouri Police Dept., in trying to resolve this matter. I have been in this business for 9 years, and it just sucks when you know your not immune to being taken.
Had I played this "textbook" style, he wouldn't have burned me.

This is the undeniable "TRUTH". I have witnesses to verify my story, some of them are even his own parents and girlfriend. One way or the other he will pay for his crimes. What goes around comes around.

I say, take risks your prepared to take, and don't punish all for the faults of a few. If your "instincts" start knocking, your not hearing things, ...just go open the door"



Regards,

Marvin "Shaggy" Martinez
Bronx Dragon Depot

 

[SPJ]

You sent 23 snakes to someone you never met?

Sorry to hear about you losing the money and the animals but weren't you a little bit skeptical when he told you what he could sell them for?

I think the proverbial buck won out over common sense here.

Sorry if I sound harsh but it seems to me that you wanted to get rich quick.

Why didn't you demand payment before you sent the second batch of snakes out?

 

[The BoidSmith]

Marvin,

We could probably all start lecturing you on what you should have done. But that's probably not what you want to hear. In the words of a great deceased singer "there are no problems, only solutions". What have you done so far to address the problem? Do you have at least records of any e-mails, or were they always telephone conversations? Any other tangible proof of your dealings with him? Have you reported him to the local police? Try to start networking will some his local friends and acquaintances, sometimes that works. Talk to his parents again, again, and again. He will go for it again that's for sure so report him to kingsnake!

Give us more details of what he said and you said. Maybe we can all figure something out.

Regards,   <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

 

[Shaggy of BDD]

Hind sight is 20/20 Steve.

I know it seems foolish on my part, but it's hard to judge without you being there yourself. I expect to hear all of the typical "Why did you put your gun to your head AND pull the trigger" type remarks. Undeniably, I guess outside of the financial loss, I must also endure humility from my peers and strangers. I didi not post so that I could get reemed by the rightous and all knowing herper's of the world. For I already know what they are going to say, and it is not for my benefit but for there own grandure. I posted so that those who know not of certain misdealings would gain skepticism and possibly gain experience through my mistake. Also, to possibly hear from those who have been where I am and know better than I what to do about it.

Don't worry your comment wasn't harsh and it wasn't neccessary, but it was expected.

Regards,

Marvin "Shaggy" Martinez
Bronx Dragon Depot

 

[JERRY TRESSER]

Its difficult enough to trust your friends, but strangers!

 

[Neil Gubitz]

Marvin.... I was born in The Bronx! I really feel for you, man, but.... there isn't a darn thing you can do about it! No contract, nothing in writing, no verifiable agreement.... nothing? Do you, by any chance, have a Bridge you just bought, in your backyard???
You saw "dollar signs" in front of your face and you let your COMMON SENSE get the better of you.... Marvin, mark it off to experience and forget it.... you'll drive yourself nuts, and there STILL won't be a darn thing you can do about it!

For the rest of you guys out there.... if you're EVER going to give ANYBODY YOU DON'T KNOW one of your animals on approval, breeder loan, consignment, or whatever.... first of all.... DON'T DO IT!! But, if you MUST.... get a WRITTEN AGREEMENT FIRST! BEFORE you ship them ANYTHING!! And I don't mean an email stating it.... I mean a HAND SIGNED, NOTARIZED LETTER, snail-mailed to you detailing the whole transaction! That is the ONLY way you will ever get recourse when you need it! AND YOU WILL NEED IT! Trust me.... money, especially FREE money, makes people do all sorts of things they normally wouldn't!
Don't trust em as far as you can throw em! It'll bite you in the ass every time!
....Neil

 

[jefjen]

Shaggy,,,i am not gonna lecture you..You saw an opportunity,,and you decided to take the risk...You got burned,,,things happen..I hope that YOU can "burn" this punk..You know what is funny to me,,,is that people(some),,seem to have no idea that "some" people will not only put up a "bad guy" post,,,but will also pay you a "little" visit..In my opinion,,,whether its 300,,or 3000,,,its not the money aspect of the deal,,,its the fact that this person((or others)) feel that the person they intend to rip off is just a chump,,and will not take some sort of recourse against them..NOW,,,i am not advising ANYONE to resort to vigilante justice((although i will make myself clear to anyone reading this that i may do business with in the future));;I WILL NOT CONTACT THE POLICE,,,I WILL PAY YOU A VISIT,,AND I WILL BE REIMBURSED ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!!!! I am sorry for posting like this,,,but i am pissed off with all the crap that is going on in this business lately..I am sick of good guys getting f****d by a bunch a low-life punks!!!! So,,please excuse my anger,,,i am sure that some ""peace lover"" will come and berate me for this post,,,but please dont waste your time,,i dont care what you say...  Shaggy,,,please let us know how this thing turns out,,,and good luck...There are plenty of trustworthy people out there that would be thrilled to make a deal like this with you....Dont let it get you down....
  Jeff

 

[Neil Gubitz]

Hey Jeff.... Do me a favor? Send me one of your baby boas??? I'm NOT going to pay for it, either!

Does that mean I'll get to finally meet you and Jennifer??? In FLORIDA?? That's very cool! To wield THAT kind of power??? Only in America! lmao

As far as retaliation goes.... Yeah you right! Especially from NY?? In NY we live by "The New York Golden Rule"...."Do unto others.... then RUN LIKE HELL!" lol

I'm sure you know that "Physically doing anything", just isn't worth a couple of years behind bars! Well, at least for the mentally SANE! But, it sure does SOUND like fun, doesn't it?? We can always make him like Hoffa?? Poof! He's gone! But, he'll ALWAYS be a cornerstone in the organization! lol ....Neil

 

[The BoidSmith]

Jeff,

Probably most of us feel just lik you. But in the end this guy will go free, and you will enjoy your satisfaction in jail. It's sad but it's the way the system works. If the retaliation is disproportionate compared to the offense (for example stealing vs. physically hurting an individual) you will always loose. In this case he clearly stole snakes, but if there is no evidence...

 

[jefjen]

Yea guys,,,i know all about the "system"!!!! Its just the redneck comin out!!!! LOL!!! Neil,,,i will send you anything you want,,,cause you know you have ""something"that i want...I dont know,,,Jennifer is worse than i am!!!! LOL,,She can be a real bi......,,,,oh,,hear she is,,,she can be a real nice girl!!!!Okay,,she is gone,,,""nice girl""?? yea right,,,WHATEVER!!!!
 Jeff

 

[NEWReptiles]

neil, you have it all wrong...its "do onto others before they do onto you.

at least thats what things are looking like these days

 

[Darin Chappell]

Marvin,

I live in southern Missouri now, but I used to live in Independence.  I still know people there, and I DEFINITELY know where to find people in the herp industry.

You can ask Vinnie Ritchie about me.  He'll tell you I'm a stand up guy, and that I'll do what I can to help.  You let me know what needs to be done with this cheat, and I'll see what I can do.

Sometimes, it just takes a little visit from a 7'2" 375 lb. motivational speaker to get a guy ready to pay his debts! (I'll see if I can't find one for you <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>)  Seriously, please let me know what I can do for you.

 

[gila7150]

I'm sorry to hear about you getting screwed like that. I got screwed a couple months ago by a guy that sold me an extremely sick texas indigo that he said was in "great health".
I filed a Internet Fraud Complaint at http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp
A few days later my local law enforcement called me and they got in touch with local law enforcement in the seller's area. When this guy heard from the police he got scared like the coward he is and sent me my money back plus $100 for vet bills. Prior to that, he wouldn't answer my emails or phone calls. You just have to be persistant...at the very least you can make his life miserable. Call him and his parents on a daily basis...find out where he works and call him there...just be a general pain in his a*s.
   Good luck,
     Chris

 

[gila7150]

sorry, my full name is Chris Raden

 

[Shaggy of BDD]

Thanks to you all. I really appreciate the support.

If you guys only knew half the stuff I was considering. I mean at one point this guy was all about, "We'll work it out, I'll get you your money...blah, blah, blah." Then it became, "Well I should only send you the wholesale value of them since you didn't pay retail when you bought them from your friends". To finally, "well no contract, so I can't do jail time, screw you!!"

He really does not know who he is playing with. He's this little 24 yr old, pot head, country punk, recovering heroine addict, that get methadone shots everyday and lives with his mommy and daddy and has no JOB!!! He has a 37 yr old divorced girlfriend that has 18 yr old TWIN daughters. I mean c'mon, if that doesn't spell pathetic, what does!

Today he claimed he was going to tell the cops that "I threatened him and his family" over the phone. I already filed a report locally for his THREATS and over at his police dept. There are several things in motion. So I know the law or just life itself will catch up with this punk. I just need to calm down and regroup. All this stress isn't worth  it, but the ####### got under my skin, and that's hard to do.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm the coolest cucumber in the bunch. I would never screw anyone over, I just wasn't raised like that. But my friends tend to take things more seriously than I, and often feel it's their job to do the things I'm to sensible to do. Maybe so, but this kid has alot more than me to worry about. I'm not the type to get on a plane cause you stole money from me (depends how much too), but there many people that will!!! Especially if your from NY. These are the same guys that run in the street when the see a quarter shining on the double yellow line, during rush hour!! LOL.

Anyway, I'm definatley interested in Darrin Chappels' offer. Email me at [email protected] and we can talk about 'good ol Missouri'. Also, any other tips are greatly appreciated. You know, my good buddy Vinny Ritchie told me today that "if we all played by the book, alot of good people would never have gotten the chance to be in this business. It's just a risk you HAVE TO TAKE". I agree.

BTW: Jeff, tell me what you think of the pics I sent you, I'm in need of another rack unit. Yours would work great. Let me know.

Side Note: Another mistake I made. In my rage today I posted a short version of this on the KS Classifieds. Bad Move. It took me all of 25 minutes to have my account terminated by Kevin H. Oh well, Chalk up another $54 to the losses. When it rains it poors.

To the rest of you, I'll keep you posted with the latest on the "SHAGGY SPRINGER SHOW".


Regards, (If you don't know, I prefer "Shaggy" over Marvin)

Marvin "Shaggy" Martinez
Bronx Dragon Depot

 

[ReptileAddictsAnonymous]

Marvin,

This may or may not be a viable direction to take.   I heard about this being used by someone, and it worked.  I am not saying it will work for everyone.  Ihad a friend who basically did the same thing as you.  Made an agreement with someone to allow them to be a "jobber" of his reptiles.  After a month, and no payments, he went through every angle he could to try to get his money, but to no avail.  Police, threats of lawsuits, even threats of physical aggression did nothing.  Finally, he contacted the people who had purchased the snakes from the "jobber."  Although they were originally skeptical that they could be broght into the midle of the situation, they decided to help.  They gave my friend a list of the reptiles they had purchased from the jobber.  He in turn, made a couple of calls to the IRS and told them that he was doing business with this guy, explained the situation, and faxed them a copy of the receipts given to him by the people who had bought from the jobber.  It turned out that the jobber had done this a number of times, made close to $15,000, and never reported any of the income.  To top it off, he could produce no receipts showing that he had purchased the reptiles from anyone and so he had no "investments" to go against the total amount of the reptiles.  The "jobber" not only had to pay taxes and penalties for the amounts made, but he was also put through a close scrutiny of all of his financial matters for the 5 years prior.

Again, I am not saying this is a viable option for everyone, but it worked for someone I knew.  Maybe it can help you.  You know where this guy i from.  Contact the local petshops and find out where he has sold your animals, and if they would provide ou with any information.   Chances are, if he ha been doing this to others, as well as you, he has left a trail of sales along the way.  These "sales" are probably all unearned, and unreported income.   At worst, by contacting the local shops, it will put them on alert that he is selling stolen property and cut him off from the accounts he uses to "fence" the stuff.

Hope it helps.

John V. LaCorte
Reptile Addicts Anonymous

 

[The BoidSmith]

John has an excellent point (after all, even Capone was incarcerated because of tax evasion).

My suggestion, forget about the money. It may be a lost cause and it will cause you not to play it cool. Take it as a personal quest to make his life miserable. Forget about trying to contact him anymore directly until he does (and believe me he will sooner or later if you are persistent enough).

Work into his circle of friends and "clients". Put adds up in every internet reptiles free classifieds. Something along the lines of "if you bought a snake from Jeremy Stark please contact me, I am interested in buying it back from you". Find who he sold to, for how much, etc. After he found this to be a source of income and will try to do it again.

Good luck!,

 

[Dianne Johnson]

Shaggy,

Here's a couple of options:
First option (and personally what I would do): Report the unreturned, unpaid for animals as stolen.  You should be able to file in NY.  This should also be a felonly for two reasons - first reason is the amount in question is over $200 (felony) and second because it crossed stated lines (federal jurisdiction & a felony).  I do not think you have to have a written agreement in this case because it is theft any way you cut it - he took your animals, sold them for a profit and kept the money = theft.  A warrant should be issued and he can be extradited to NY to face the charges - the extradition is probable but not necessarily certain.

Second option:  You could file what is called a Warrant in Debt and get judgement against him for the amount owed to you.  A verbal agreement is still an agreement and a written contract isn't always necessary (for future reference get everything in writing because it makes litigation easier).  You may not get any money from him this way, but then again you may.  With a judgement against him, his wages (if he gets a job) can be garnished and/or any property he owns can be confiscated and sold to reimburse you.  

With the latter option, I know of this happening for a fact in VA and NC because I personally have seen it used.  There are options out there.  As I said, it makes it easier with a written statement or agreement, but not impossible without one.  With the theft option, no written agreement should or would be necessary.

Best of luck.  I believe you'll need a bit of it.

Dianne

 

[Shaggy of BDD]

To all,

I beleive both John and Diane both hold valid points. I will try to contact the stores in his area and basically tarnish whatever business name he has for THEFT style business tactics. I plan to sit down with a legal advisor and throw out all the ideas mentioned. Hopefully, one or more will work. At the very least, he will undergo scrutiny and embarresment. I will make his life miserable, "one day at a time". BTW, if anyone wants to give him a piece of there mind. Here's how to contact him. Ask him if he has any tricolors or corns for sale.

Jeremy Stark

913.651.3645 (girlfriends house where he lives now)
816-833-1184 (Parents home where he used to live last week)

[email protected] (SPAM AWAY!&#33<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Age: 23-24
Birthdate: 11/9

Note: He says he's a member of the Missouri Herp Society, anyone know any members. I'd like to inform them myself.

I would like to get his phone traced and know where he lives to tell you the truth. But them again, I might be tempted to go give him a nice big NY style HUG!!!

So friends, there you have it, if you want his side of it, by all means ask him. You'll be in for a moronic treat!!



Thanks Everybody,

Marvin "Shaggy" Martinez
Bronx Dragon Depot

 

[Justyn]

This is the address and name that popped up for the girlfriend on www.whitepages.com.

Fink, David L  
2308 Girard St
Leavenworth, KS 66048
913-651-3645  

Thanks
Justyn