Many people in the tarantula community have been following this thread with great interest. Mostly because of the R2 Exotics/Richard Roman connection, as folks have been searching for reviews and information on this relative newcomer to the tarantula trade. Especially with the rather rare and expensive imports he has available. To see a dealer just show up with sales ads of highly sought-after spiders, and even more recently, with a "world wide exclusive" egg sac that "is the first known to be laid in captivity and soon available in the hobby" has left many folks wanting more information.
Quoted text, in caption of photo here on R2 Exotics FB page: https://www.facebook.com/1414874885425645/photos/a.1427301530849647.1073741831.1414874885425645/1576076499305482/?type=1
After reading this thread here on the BOI, I began to pay even closer attention to the posts that Richard Roman would make in FB tarantula groups. On one particular Richard Roman post in a group, Robert Penny showed up with pictures of the "world wide exclusive" adult specimens. I thought this was extremely curious, and made a comment there about a very interesting discussion on the FC BOI.
(Note: I only mention this, without links/proof to share, because it is relevant as a reference to screenshots of a discussion I will be posting, as the pictures Robert posted there are mentioned in the screenshot comments. I did not ask permission from the admins of that particular group where the pictures were posted to use a screenshot of Robert's tarantula photo comments from that group though).
To avoid drama in that group, as it was not really the appropriate place for that kind of discussion, someone started a post about this BOI thread in a FB group for reviews/feedback on Feb. 22 - "The Arachnid Communities Feedback Group"
I didn't see the OP before it was edited, but as mentioned in the comments, it originally called out Robert/Rat Trap and Richard/R2 Exotics together. It was later edited to remove Richard/R2 Exotics, as Robert claims they are in no way associated.
Now, I didn't see the post in the Feedback group right away because I was busy doing some digging. Knowing that Robert and Richard are both located in North Carolina, I started searching for available public records in that state. I ended up at the North Carolina Secretary of State's website, where they have public records of registered businesses online.
You can search by corporate name:
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/search/index/corp
Or search by the Registered Agent's name:
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/searchagt.aspx
You can also "Search for New & Dissolved" and my first searches there were looking for businesses that were dissolved on or near that date, because of Robert's claim that "As of December 31, 2014 Rat Trap Reptiles INC. has been dissolved as a corporation ..."
I couldn't find any version of Rat Trap Reptiles Inc that had been dissolved as of that date.
But here's what I
did find.
Robert Penny is the registered agent for "RTR 2.O Inc" (
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/Search/profcorp/10706589)
Richard Roman is the registered agent for "R2 Exotics Inc" (
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/Search/profcorp/10706574)
You can download/view .pdf files the SoS has made available for any of these businesses by clicking the "View Document Filings" link on their pages.
When viewing the documents, I thought it was very interesting that both RTR 2.O and R2 Exotics applied for their articles of incorporation on the same day (Jan 15, 2015), and were filed/approved by the SoS the next day, practically one right after the other, at 3:56pm and 4:02pm. Like they were handed in together. Or stood in line together.
I did find one dissolved business - "Rat Trap Reptiles" LLC. (
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/Search/profcorp/9865705)
Daniel C. Gibides was the registered agent. It was dissolved just recently by the SoS on Feb 5, 2015 due to failure to file annual report(s) as required. Not because Dan, Robert, or Richard asked for it to be dissolved.
Also, if you click Dan's name on that page, it will show you a list of businesses that person represents (
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/agent.aspx?AgentId=6923379). There is another "Rat Trap Reptiles" that is currently "In Process" - I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I'm wondering if he is trying to rectify the delinquent records with the state and re-apply for the LLC.
Now this is what I thought was the most interesting one - "Rat Trap Reptiles I Inc" - still listed today as a current-active business, with Richard Roman listed as the registered agent.
http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/Search/profcorp/10087680
When you view the document filings, you'll see that Daniel Gibides was the original registered agent, and both Dan and Richard were listed as incorporators. And in the 4/15/2014 annual report, Dan is no longer listed anywhere, but Richard Roman is listed as the registered agent and president. "Description of nature of business: Breeding and selling of reptiles."
This was most interesting to me because Robert claims that he and Richard are not in business together in any way.
Now back to "The Arachnid Communities Feedback Group" on FB... where he was more than happy to go on about the BOI thread, and where I confronted Robert with this information from the SoS.
I have permission from the admins of this group (it is a 'closed' group - you have to be a member to view the posts) to post screenshots of the entire conversation. Since it is 'closed' though, I blocked out the names and profile pics of the FB users posting -- EXCEPT my own name and that of Robert Penny. I tried to make the conversation easy to follow by color-coding each name. So the 'black' name is all the same person, the 'red' name is the same person, etc. I have 14 screenshots total, and only 4 attachments are allowed per post, so I need to make several posts to attach them all.
What I find most interesting is the very last screenshot, that was just made tonight. (I had asked that person on FB tonight if the list of spiders that Robert Penny gives, not Richard -
the third attached image in this post - was a list from R2 Exotics stock, or if it was from Rat Trap or what. Which reminded that person to post that final shot)
