• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Top Shelf Exotics (Inquiry)

Agreed guys. Officer Brown needs to come here with more than a Yahoo address. For someone to come here with one post, and no introduction, sounds a bit quick. If valid, I do not know if he picked up on it based on reports to some of the internet fraud sites, etc. Whatever that means, to have the BOI become his avenue of contact, rather than back through to the specific people who filed the complaints, doesn't add up. Those who made the complaints would have received the notification, and then given us a heads-up. Like Scott said, it not only doesn't pass the smell test, it passes no test.
 
Shouldn't be to hard to find out if Mr. Brown is legit or not just call the State police and ask. If he's not I bet they'd want to talk to him then. Randy
 
Since I am under the belief that Mr. Brown inadvertently neglected to provide other contact info as he had indicated to me he was going to do in his post in this thread, I will go out on a limb and copy the email he originally sent to me concerning this case:
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Brown
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2006 3:08 PM
Subject: Top Shelf Exotics Post


I am an Investigator with the New York State Police who has been made aware of the criminal conduct of "Chris Johnson" of Top Shelf Exotics. I am in the process of opening a criminal investigation in which I would like to post a message on how persons viewing your forums can file a complaint with us to prosecute Mr. Johnson/Top Shelf Exotics and possibly get their refunds. These type of complaints are national and many times international in scope and many times the only way for us to assist victims is to utilize bulletin boards like this one. Unfortunately, posting a message costs money and for one post over many forums on the internet, cost becomes an issue for us. Can a post be made by law enforcement w/o cost to assist your members? An example of a post I did on another internet fraud complaint can be found at the following link:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76211&page=3&highlight=mbrown3208
Note the last post on the page - this is an investigation on a Gerald Cartaino who purportedly sells jeep parts w/o actually sending anything much like Johnson. Thank you for your time in this matter. Contact me for verification purposes or any questions you might have. Collect calls are accepted.

Inv Mark A. Brown
New York State Police
518-457-0652
518-488-0069(cell)
[email protected]
[email protected]
Click to expand...

I think this will help to clear up some confusion as well as help set aside some fears that this is not a legitimate investigation request.

If for some reason Mr. Brown takes exception to this information being posted here, I reserve the right to delete it if he requests that I do so.
 
Thanks Rich, I am sure that will put alot of peoples minds at ease,And maybe, now those people who are of the unheard masses will now step up.Knowing that the law is going to be putting a smack down on Mr Johnson. Thumbs up Mr. Brown thank you for giving the people duped by Chris Johnson / TSE Hope.
 
Thanks, Rich,

I to feel a sigh of relief after contacting him privately on the TSE matter.
Having a criminal investigation will far outweight any civil pursuit. It may even force Chris to attempt some kind of retribution to avoid prosecution or having a grand jury indict him for felony fraud.
 
Thank you for putting our minds at ease Rich.....I wanted to send my information to him, but was a bit apprehensive. I'll be emailing him now.
 
Wanted to send out a well deserved thanks to Derek and others who have been pushing the civil/criminal buttons to move this event along. Derek has been knocking on doors (with his phone) of many up-state NY entities, attorneys and law enforcement, hoping to advance the cause. Even with the help of Officer Brown (hope he is Ok with that title), there are still hurdles to clear. As indicated by Cathy, I would hope that all who have a claim will contact Officer Brown, and keep the noise going so that even more will hear. The number and nature of the complaints given to Officer Brown will help to fuel the fire, staying within the guidelines he gave. Again, to those of you who have made the effort to get it this far, a collective thanks from all who are rooting for you.
 
I have no interest in this thread other than morbid curiousity, but I just thought I'd point out, WebSlave, that the good officer may object to the SPAM he will receive from web crawlers due to his email being posted publicly in plain text... maybe obfuscate it a little?
 
I am glad to hear that an officer of the NY police department is now involved in this case. Thank you Mr Brown for helping us in this matter.

I do have a few questions. First, if Chris is brought up on criminal charges, what will be the affect of this? Pondering on this would make one wonder if Chris does get time out of this, Then what if any refund will be able to obtain? Would there still be a civil case to persue? Also, would it be set as terms of his probation to refund the debts that he is being charged with? If he is brought up on criminal charges, will it still be open to civil charges as well?

It just looks to me like Chris has no money to pay off these debts. If this is the case, then where would these good people stand on getting a refund?
If Chris if found guilty and charged with this crime and given time to serve, then would he have a chance of being free from these debts?

Just a few questions that make one wonder.
 
Civil claims and criminal charges are two different animals. OJ was found innocent of criminal charges but did loose in civil court. This is just one more problem for Chris, and if he is found guilty, the one that will cause him the most harm.

Even if he just gets probation, having a felony or your record can cause real problems for an individual. I don't imagine telling a future employer, bank exec, etc., that you were found guilty of internet fraud, makes a good impression.

You can win in civil court and never see a dime, just ask OJ.
 
Kevin, you are absolutely correct,

They are two distinct situations. The criminal aspect is being provided by the State, and the civil aspect would be provided personally through an attorney. Whether Chris goes or does not go to jail will have no reflect on the monies that you or anyone else may have lost. Its gone!

You cannot buy your way out of a criminal liability by offering to pay back some people and not others. It does not work that way! Your only recourse aside from the satisfaction in knowing that these thieves do get prosecuted, is that it becomes a lesson for others who think they can get away with their scam and not get caught. They will be pursued!

Until a complete picture surfaces that will list the assests of what Chris has or possibly transferred will determine the course of action an attorney may take. But rest assured if Chris does get indicted, he will need a criminal attorney and that will cost, so their are no hopes for a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end.
 
I'm not sure that Chris knows how to deal with real problems in the real world. Only those he creates in his. Fake Illness, Fake Incompetent Employees, Fake Weather, Fake Shipping Problems, etc...
 
Don't leave out....

Don't leave out the fake hets, fake "last one available", fake breeding facility, fake compassion for your concerns, fake pictures never received, lets just hope he reality hits him when the REAL prison door shuts behind him.

Chris Rouille
 
About the civil claim aspect - if the criminal investigation does not produce refunds to customers and they do file a civil suit - yes, it is possible that they may still not see any money even if the judgement is in the customer's favor. However, since the company seems to be owned only by Chris, and if it is NOT incorporated, the civil judgements will follow him around for a long, long time. I filed a civil suit against an employer that was going out of business before they paid me my last paycheck. No one from the company showed up at the judgement (so I won).. but since the company was incorporated and it dissolved, I never got my money. I did, however, write it off on my taxes. Just something to keep in mind.... if his business was NOT incorporated, Chris himself will be responsible for the debts and judgements against his company.
 
I had another question/comment, If I recall correctly, Chris requested that his EX-?-girlfriend was to turn people in for harassment if they contact her again. My thoughts are, was this yet another ploy to leave his costumers in the dark? What if that ploy was meant by Chris to keep everyone from finding out what other skeletons are lurking in his closet. If he has scammed so many on the net, I would bet there are troubles at home as well. One could be left to wonder if he is pulling the same stunts on his home turf. Like maybe his local cocaine dealer?? :rolleyes: All the funds went somewhere, it would fit the profile. JMHO.
 
Bobby,
A few of us have speculated as to the apparent speed with which the money went through Chris's hands. Whether it was that it was "easy money" that caused it to be spent in such a hurry, and likely unwisely, or a pressing (and still unwise) need for cash that caused the aggressive pursuit of the "easy money" to begin with, in either scenario there had to be another "seller" to Chris, for whatever he was buying. With the amount of unearned cash that was being spent, likely there was a bit of a credit relationship there as well. The likely logic would indicate that when this "easy money" well ran dry, Chris hit a proverbial brick wall, as I seriously doubt he was buying real estate, stocks, gold, etc. Might he owe money to others who do not play by the rules? Considering Chris's disregard for the rules, no one would be surprised.
 
I got some good news, that should give some hope to others who paid with credit cards, I got a 599.00 credit on my visa card. I purchased a pair of het. albino ball pythons and never received them, but i have gotten my money back. I hope the rest of you do to.
 
Stan, that is great

news, and I am glad that the information that I provided was WRONG! I guess allot depends on your credit card company and the relationship you have with them. Paypal is out the money, and they can become a creditor and join the list!
 
Is the individual who is accepting donations checking his Paypal account often? A member won the bid on the Cornsnakes I put up for auction and the payment has not yet been accepted by him. The email I have is [email protected] and I didn't feel like going back through 1,719 posts to verify. Thanks! :)
 
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