I just read the entire thread in one sitting. My eyes rather hurt after reading 43 pages of very interesting comments and it is late, so I may miss some grammatical/punctuation errors, please forgive me. I have quite a few things I would like to say, so bear with me.
I'm sorry to hear the OP got himself scammed. Fortunately, he did receive his snake (albeit in despicable condition) once the BOI community got involved. Last I heard, his retic was nearly back to her normal, healthy condition. I would like to get an update, as that was roughly three months ago?
Secondly, I agree somewhat with the person who said that the boy should have realized the red flags/warnings/BS Billy was trying to pull. Although, I don't believe that Dylan is at fault for being duped; I do think he should have put more thought and consideration into his deal. Dylan stated he was eager about the trade and admittedly didn't really push the flags that he did see at the time. Many people say that Dylan's age had nothing to do with it and I, respectfully, disagree. Dylan's age only worked against him in this transaction. I think that because of his immaturity (in the sense that Dylan is not fully an adult, not the sense that he was acting immature), Dylan rushed through a process that most adults (hopefully anyway) would have researched and given more thought to. Again, this wasn't Dylan's fault that he was scammed, BUT he should have used his own reasoning skills better. I'm not saying that he could have known what Billy's intentions were, but if he had critically evaluated the situation, he probably would have thought twice about sending his retic out.
Thirdly, I am wondering about any legal measures taken against William Brier? Last time this BOI was updated by Dylan, he said he would let us know. That was three months ago. Given Dylan's hesitation, as well as the apparent lack of involvement from the parents, it seems like there has been nothing done to bring this guy down.
Personally, if I was at the receiving end of all of this (either by being the parents or Dylan himself), I would have used every contact and resource I have to put this guy away. Not only did this guy commit several federal offenses (ship USPS, animal abuse, etc), but he stole a beautiful animal to make a quick buck. I wouldn't feel like justice was served until the guy understood the ramifications of what he had done.
Finally, I would like to say that this situation is why I 1) always research my potential seller/buyer 2) never do "trades", as this most often is how a lot of people are screwed over 3) keep written records of everything that happened 4) never make arrangements with people who can't properly communicate with me.
Elizabeth Delagarza