I tread lightly here so I don't offend you or anyone else who has already been a victim of Derek's scams. You have suffered enough and I don't wish to add to that but I do feel the need to reply to your post.
Please don't blame the family for not rescuing the animals. Derek was not a 15 year old kid whose room we could simply walk into and take over their care. He was a 23 yr old man with his own apartment. None of us, neither you, nor me, nor anyone on this forum could have entered his apartment and taken the animals without some form of legal consequence. His grandfather lives down the street from Derek but he has health issues and does not drive. Derek's siblings and I have lived in NC for the last 6.5 years and I haven't seen Derek in the last 2 years. I didn't even know about this entire scam until after I was told by his grandfather that he was in jail (3 days after the fact) and googled his name finding this website. I learned from reading this discussion that a member on here called animal control several times trying to get them to address her concerns but to no avail. I asked Derek several times when he called to beg for money about whether he had enough food for the geckos and his answer every time was yes, he didn't have much, but he did have some. My 16 year old daughter also txt him offering to have food sent directly to his apartment (that she was willing to pay for out of her allowance) and he turned her offer down. We live 900 miles away so it's not as if we could drop by and see if they were ok. In reality, she and I both assumed the animals were the only things in Derek's life left that he actually cared about and in a million years wouldn't have expected this type of outcome. Do you feel we should have sent the food anyway? I wonder the same. I also wonder if he would have bothered feeding them even if we had. I wonder if he did in fact have food and was too busy trying to score or get high or stoned or whatever you 'get' after heroin use, that he forgot to feed them. I wonder a lot of things about the person my son became. How did I not know he had become a drug addict? How did I miss the signs? What were the signs I missed? I carry more than a modicum of guilt here, believe me. You have no idea how I felt when I spoke with my ex father in law. After asking what my kid was in jail for, my very next question was what about the geckos. When he told me they were dead, my heart broke.
I admit, I should have known there was more going on with my son than just depression over some difficult financial times and the loss of his father. I should have recognized the signs of drug use and drug addiction. I didn't, I'm sorry. I have sincerely apologized to everyone hurt by his actions and for my failure to raise a better child, right here in this public forum. There is nothing I can do or say that will make anyone feel better about any of this. Perhaps I have no right but I will ask you one favor: please leave the blame where it belongs: squarely on Derek's shoulders.
) I have to say you were the last person I expected to see a reply from 
