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    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)

I don't see how people who have supposed hets can file a complaint now. As I said earlier, I have a trio of "het" albino and a trio of "het" pieds, none of which have been proven out or disproven for that matter. How can I encourage someone to go arrest this guy on the basis of "he probably ripped me off"? Since I don't have a pied male or an albino male to breed the female "hets" with this fall, I won't have definitave proof for a couple seasons with a het X het breeding. I understand there are lots of people who paid and didn't receive what they bought and they should certainly fill out the necessary paperwork to keep this ball rolling, but where do those of us stand that know but can't prove we were ripped off? I'd be happy to fill out the paperwork and send it in but what would my complaint be? He probably ripped me off?? Doesn't sound very convincing to me. -Chris
 
Hi Chris,

Your right there is not really much we can do untill our snakes proves to be what we paid fore.
For some of us it can take years...
What if the female dosent produce when she reach 1500 gram...?
What if the female dosent eat that much ? maybe she will reach 1500 grams in 4-5 years....it sucks to go around and think about what is really hiding in the racks...

Some of us bought early 05 or even late 04 hets and some of us has eggs in the incubator...so far there was a 7 egg clutch and none of the hatchlings were pieds.....maybe bad odds but i dont think so...
We just have to wait and see...
I have only 4 eggs incubating from a TSE hetpied X hetpied and if there will be no pieds in the clutch then i cant say they are not hets.
In court i would lose big time with 4 eggs and a hetXhet pairing.
I have signed paperwork with photos of each and single animal but i still cant do anything than wait wait and wait. and ofcourse HOPE! :ack2:

I wonder if nobody have ever seen Chris (TSE) in real life ..he could be running a new company or made up a new name for hes future scams and ripp offs.

I myself have learned alot by this...i will never buy hets again no matter where they come from...then ill make them myself instead.
 
There are at least 25 people that have not recieved animals and told Detective Brown that they would file a disposition. Only five of the 25 have actually followed through. I don't know if it is just laziness or what but IMO that is not an acceptable number. I can tell you now that there are a few agencies out there that are working together and intersted in pursuing this case, but if the victims don't follow through then I am afraid that they may not be able to do anything. It seems that everyone just wants to jump on the train and get a free ride. What I mean by that is they want to complain that Chris has their money and send a few e-mails, but if they are asked to do anything that is going to take a few minutes to do, they just don't want to do it. I guess they have more important things to do. It only takes about 15 minutes people, get it done.
 
Chris , you are correct

you cannot file a claim for "bad luck" which would be the bottom line. Their are no claims for future problems in a purchase that involve snakes. Either you can prove that he purposely committed fraud by showing that he knew that the snake was not as it was intended to be, its a lost cause. I am sure the investigating officer would concur.

You would have to show who Chris purchased the snake from and that , that person knew for a fact that the ball was not as described by Chris when he offered it for sale. Its one thing to follow a money trail, but its impossible to follow a snake trail especially undocumented from its original source.

Chris took advantage of what is a major problem in this unregulated industry. Personally, I think its the tip of the iceberg.
 
KNOBTAIL said:
You would have to show who Chris purchased the snake from and that , that person knew for a fact that the ball was not as described by Chris when he offered it for sale. Its one thing to follow a money trail, but its impossible to follow a snake trail especially undocumented from its original source.
Click to expand...

Here is part of an email that I received from Chris that I posted before...

From : C. Johnson <[email protected]>
Sent : Tuesday, April 5, 2005 6:50 PM
To : "'Mike Pinkston & Tammy Jenkins'" <[email protected]>
Subject : RE: questions about the het albinos

Yes, We worked with numerous visual males, vidual females, and het females last season to produce these. Unrelated pairs are still available.


There's your snake trail, he claims to have produced them. (even though he couldn't seem to spell visual more than once) If he produced them then shouldn't he know what he is selling?

I have hets from Chris/TSE and I have filled out the paperwork which will be sent out at the beginning of the week. My schedule limited my time to get to a notary, but it's done now. Taking the time to fill out the deposition and send it in might not get our money back but it could help give them the extra push to nail Chris's arse to the wall. Personally, I think Chris disappearing from this thread, and from the detective, speaks volumes. If you have nothing to hide why would you go into hiding? I wonder if he knew there were gravid "hets" and that is what made him sick.

Here's one thought that I had...Chris said he was going into the hospital. I wonder if the detective has been able to check with the local hospitals to see if a Chris Johnson was ever admitted.
 
Tammy, Chris is not sick, nor has he been sick. IMO, it was a ploy to buy more time to scam more people out of their money. Chris is nothing but a liar, as well as a scammer. I would not put any faith in anything he said or sold. He is the one of the largest scammers to ever grace the herp world.

IMO, you have about as much luck trying to produce morphs with your neighborhood squirrels as you do with his hets.

Chris had many ads asking for WC snakes. If I was a betting man, I would bet that is where these hets came from.

This is my honest opinion. However, I do wish some of them could be proven out, but I really doubt that will be the case.
 
Tammy, Chris can be picked up

anytime. Attempting to flee would bring in the federal Marshalls service if he left the state or even if he did not leave the state. Its also very conceviable that Det. Brown has already made contact and advised him not to leave the state without notification.

Iam not worried about him going underground to avoid arrest. Thats not going to happen. Secondly, his sickness as well as him employee are nothing more than a ruse.
 
I didn't say he was sick, Chris said he was sick. Chris said he was going to be admitted to the hospital for said illness. I was just trying to say if there is no records of him going into the hospital that would be an addition to his string of lies. Heck, if I remember correctly when I ordered my normals...oops...I mean "hets" I think he claimed to be down with a back injury. I trust Chris about as far as I could throw him, and first someone would have to find him so I could throw him. I'd be willing to give it a try though.
 
Tammy HTH said:
I didn't say he was sick, Chris said he was sick. Chris said he was going to be admitted to the hospital for said illness. I was just trying to say if there is no records of him going into the hospital that would be an addition to his string of lies. Heck, if I remember correctly when I ordered my normals...oops...I mean "hets" I think he claimed to be down with a back injury. I trust Chris about as far as I could throw him, and first someone would have to find him so I could throw him. I'd be willing to give it a try though.
Click to expand...

I understand exactly what you mean. I could not agree more. I just did not want people to take it as anything less than what it/he is.
 
Yeah it's a shame that more people haven't gotten on the stick and sent their depositions in. If I was a betting man I'd say that those 25 are just the tip of the iceberg. Come on folks if you wont do it for yourselves do it for the reptile community!! This isn't someone who just burned YOU he ripped off a bunch of people and has lowered the trust level of those considering buying animals sight unseen through the internet. There are enough bad guys out there lets not encourage others to try something like Chris did by letting him prosper by his crimes. If Chris gets away with this because you did nothing what will you say here to the next group of people scammed in the same way who come here?
Randy
 
Geckos seized in Buffalo

Hi All,
I saw this on a fish site that I check once in a while. It may have nothing to do with TSE, but I thought I'd pass it along. The summary is 90 geckos were seized from a local apartment, in OK shape, owner still hasn't claimed them over a week later. The post is from somebody helping out the local animal control folks. Here's the link:

http://forums.waterwolves.com/index.php?showtopic=103540

Hope the link works, if I messed that up the site is waterwolves.com, it's the first topic in the reptile section.

Joe Hiduke
 
WOW , thanks Joe for bringing that to the attention of the people here , I bet they will appreciate it dearly.
 
geckos seized?

Geckos seized in Buffalo
Hi All,
I saw this on a fish site that I check once in a while. It may have nothing to do with TSE, but I thought I'd pass it along. The summary is 90 geckos were seized from a local apartment, in OK shape, owner still hasn't claimed them over a week later. The post is from somebody helping out the local animal control folks. Here's the link:

http://forums.waterwolves.com/index...howtopic=103540

Hope the link works, if I messed that up the site is waterwolves.com, it's the first topic in the reptile section.

Joe Hiduke
Click to expand...

Makes you wonder doesn't it. I tried to google the story and found nothing. Does anyone know how to find out more about this?
 
If these were Chris Johnson’s geckos, animal cruelty charges can definitively take this to a whole different level.

Regards.
 
for what it is worth

I sent my disposition in last week, although I am one of the owners of "hets". My understanding is to get all dispositions in - hets and, more importantly, those people who have never received their animals.
I would believe that, even if your CC returned your money, a disposition should still be written. Afterall, Chris should have refunded the money - you shouldn't have had to go directly to the CC company. He is still the one who needs to be held accountable.
 
The BoidSmith said:
If these were Chris Johnson’s geckos, animal cruelty charges can definitively take this to a whole different level.

Regards.
Click to expand...

Agreed. But we can not assume that either of these cases are related to Chris as they do not provide names or exact addresses of the owners of these poor animals. Since Chris seems to have dissapeared Has anyone called the SPCA to investigate wether he abandoned his animals.
 
Agreed. But we can not assume that either of these cases are related to Chris as they do not provide names or exact addresses of the owners of these poor animals.
Click to expand...

Absolutely and that's why I said "If". Having said this being as it is the same city, same time frame for the "disappearance" of the owner, the same species Chris was working with, and quite an extensive collection it would have to be a huge coincidence if we were not dealing with the same person.

Regards.
 
There's no doubt in my mind those are Chris Johnson's leopard geckos. What a loser he is to abandon his animals that way. I urge everyone that was scammed to contact that detective so that something can be done to punish the guy. Too many scammers in the animal business get away with it and it's not right. :hot:
 
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