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Top Shelf Exotics (Inquiry)

KNOBTAIL said:
I dont think you will be able to file a deposition that will be acceptable unless you paid Chris and received nothing. If you received anything even if it turns out to be not what you expected, you may be out of luck.

But its always better to check with people who are dealing directly with Det. Brown.
Click to expand...

So there's nothing I can do?
Can't I personally take him to court or anything?
Was Detective Brown able to get a hold of Chris Johnson?

Also, back when Chris Johnson had his website running, and just opened up the forum on his website, Nick and I use to be mods on there.
I remember once going to chat night, there was someone named "Pat" who worked for Chris and who was running the chat, and Chris was in there as well. Pat had a horrible attitude.
I also remember Chris telling me, him and Jenna ran the business. He also told me they were getting married, I find it odd that all of a sudden she has no idea what happend.

Another thing I remember is, when I was waiting for him to ship my hets in early 05 ... I waited till it got warm for him to ship them which took 3 months, and once he got warm he didn't send them out right away, cause he said he could only ship a certain amount of packages, and there were people that paid before me, he sent mine out a few days later after saying that.

I also remember him being in the hospital atleast once, while I was a mod on his forum.

I still at this point don't understand what happend, has Chris Johnson just got up and disappeared completely?
Honestly, how hard can it be to track him down?
I want this idiot arrested already, don't tell me he ripped off countless people with fake hets and he won't have to face jail time.
 
Leon,
You need a full name posted. Suggest you stick it in your info box, or you can type it with each post.
Circumstances such as yours have been covered many times in the thread, and are now buried in over 2300 posts. That the "other mod" had a terrible attitude fits the pattern, as all of Chris's "helpers" seemed to coincidentally have his attitude. Since you got product for your $, you don't really have a claim yet. You may be able to file a deposition anyway, for if Chris ever confesses to being a fraud regarding hets as a plea bargain etc, AND has assets with which to at least refund those he sold hets to, you may qualify. It is also possible that when you finally are able to obtain some statistical evidence based on what you produce, the State of NY may want to lump you with similar het complainants, and go for more of Chris. Those are three long shots at this point.
 
I recieved product, but it's not the product I chucked out $1250 for.
I would have never purchased from him, if he didn't have such positive feedback on BOI.
I guess you can't even believe the feedback on here, now a days.
I honestly can't believe how many people he screwed out of their money.
 
Leon, to repeat what Jim said, you need to post your full name in your post....Also, I received my animals from Chris and still filled out a deposition, you may not be able to get your monies back but, It won't hurt anything by filling one out either. So if you want to, go ahead and fill it out and send it in.
 
I never helped run the business. Check the DBA. I did to make sure. I didn't even know what a DBA was until I read stuff in here.I don't know anything about reptiles except geckos, in which I purchased through Chris. I have seven. I paid in full for just like everyone else, as a matter of fact when aptors came out I forked out 1,300.00 for a pair of hets from a lady through him. I let him borrow the male for breeding and never saw it again, he said it died. He started the business when he lived with me. He was basically an animal broker. He had animals drop shipped to customers. He NEVER had animals here. I live in a small 2 bd. rm apartment in a complex with my child. He said he needed to buy animals in bulk and breed them to make more money; so he rented a one bedroom apartment downstairs from me. It became his office and he set up racks. Then we broke up and he had to live down there . Then he moved in with a friend that had a house. Then the SPCA came, then the Police came, then the landlord came looking for him; and who do you think got stuck talking to them. I was told his paypal account was frozen and he would resume shipping animals; as soon as it was resolved. I got curious and looked on the BOI here because I remembered him bragging about his standing. he used to say his rating was better than the owners and people in the business for twenty years. I never was part of the business. I clean houses 40+ hours a week and have a child to care for. I offered to help answer e-mails because he said he couldn't keep up with the hundreds of calls and e-mails a day. he told me no because he didn't want someone who didn't know anything about reptiles trying to answer e-mails because it would look bad and ruin his rep. He never asked me to marry him. I've never even been engaged. anything I know about reptiles came from reading online in forums such as this one.
 
Jenna,
A few of us are surprised to see you post here. I applaud your courage. You may be bombarded with questions. Sometimes things spin kind of wildly here. If you participate, take your time. Ignore what you think is not proper. Only give it the time you feel you are able, as you may be pulled at with vigor. I will thank you in advance for your effort. Do not give out your phone number.
 
OK, if not scared away ! As you may know from reading here, if you have been able to keep up, folks in the community were ripped off for tens of thousands of dollars by Chris, and New York's finest are into it. You spoke to them. What you have already said goes to the heart of the entire het-fraud issue as well, which increases the potential theft several times over again. Whether here in open forum, or in PM, there is much angst amongst those who lost money. Thank you for offering your words, and for any help you can render.
 
janga2021 said:
I never helped run the business. Check the DBA. I did to make sure. I didn't even know what a DBA was until I read stuff in here.I don't know anything about reptiles except geckos, in which I purchased through Chris. I have seven. I paid in full for just like everyone else, as a matter of fact when aptors came out I forked out 1,300.00 for a pair of hets from a lady through him. I let him borrow the male for breeding and never saw it again, he said it died. He started the business when he lived with me. He was basically an animal broker. He had animals drop shipped to customers. He NEVER had animals here. I live in a small 2 bd. rm apartment in a complex with my child. He said he needed to buy animals in bulk and breed them to make more money; so he rented a one bedroom apartment downstairs from me. It became his office and he set up racks. Then we broke up and he had to live down there . Then he moved in with a friend that had a house. Then the SPCA came, then the Police came, then the landlord came looking for him; and who do you think got stuck talking to them. I was told his paypal account was frozen and he would resume shipping animals; as soon as it was resolved. I got curious and looked on the BOI here because I remembered him bragging about his standing. he used to say his rating was better than the owners and people in the business for twenty years. I never was part of the business. I clean houses 40+ hours a week and have a child to care for. I offered to help answer e-mails because he said he couldn't keep up with the hundreds of calls and e-mails a day. he told me no because he didn't want someone who didn't know anything about reptiles trying to answer e-mails because it would look bad and ruin his rep. He never asked me to marry him. I've never even been engaged. anything I know about reptiles came from reading online in forums such as this one.
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TopShelfExotics (Good People)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cam home for lunch about 45 minutes ago.
I was expecting a delivery and it got here.

I placed an order with Chris and Jenna Johnson of Topshelf Exotics. I ordered two of their biggest ball python females.
Click to expand...
Response-
Chris@TSE said:
Jenna is not my wife, yet. She is my fiance.

But thank you for the kind words! It was a pleasure doing busienss with you! :D
Click to expand...

As you can see, that information about your relationship came from Chris.
Everyone will be grateful for all the information you can contribute here.
 
Well thank you for posting that quote from Chris. Is there anything else he said about me ? I never read the BOI until recently. And wow !! I admit I haven't digested it all. I started at the first post where everyone was parroting what Chris told me. Defending him. So I dropped my curiosity. Until I came in contact with another member of the forum inquiring about some animals. I told him who i was and he said to do a search on my name in the forum . I said no; I wouldn't come up. Why would I ? A few days later I did just for the heck of it. Suprise my name address phone number. I was part of the business possibly Mrs. Jenna Johnson. Needless to say what have been reading was dated April. So I looked up the last posts most recent and wham!! Wow. I didn't want to get involved but; how I see it Chris involved me. I've never even bread or sold an animal and I'm dirt in the reptile community. If I do hatch any geckos I'll have to sell them to a local pet shop for 30.00. I saw what happened to Chris he had hundreds of geckos he couldn't keep up . So I planned on trading or selling any hatchlings. I admit I had no intrest in reptiles until I met Chris and I made fun of him calling him reptile boy. But I did find some cute reptiles and now have a love for them. I cant believe this. And I cant stand sitting here quietly; nor being slandered. I am an honest person. Heck I was a Criminal Justice major in college and in the Army ROTC. I wanted to be in the FBI. I have fully cooperated with law enforcement and honestly answered all questions parroting what I was told by Chris, confused and startled as to why law enforcement was investigating a Pay Pal dispute. The local Detective named Martz who spoke to me said some guy in Florida called and he had to follow up and that it was a civil matter. I never would have known the scale of this if I hadn't stumbled on to the BOI. I always browse the classifieds here and on Kingsnake window shopping really. Wishing and wanting. I don't even know what to say. It looks like his white lies involved me how else does anyone now my name. Ive never posted. I don't know enough about reptiles to.I just read and learn and drool over animals. I'm sorry for chris and anyone owed money. I don't believe he intended to go belly up and mess anybody over. he owes the landlord 3 months rent he said that was why he had to move. and i am dumb founded at the amount of money owed to people. what was he selling that added up to that 15,000 total. and where did the money go is it in pay pal like he says? does anyone know for sure? has anyone taled to pay pal such as law enforcement to find out if the money is there as he says it is? what is the snake het thing everyone is going on about?
 
sorry my posts are so long, but i have alot of questions and im upset, shocked,angry. but i'm sure the people owed money don't care. Iwould'nt if i was them.
 
Out of curiousity, can you confirm if Chris was so sick that he was on his death bed, or was that another of his lies? Also, do Glen and Pat actually exist or did he make them up as well? Thanks for any answers you can provide, and for the info you have already posted!
 
janga2021 said:
Well thank you for posting that quote from Chris. Is there anything else he said about me ? I never read the BOI until recently. And wow !! I admit I haven't digested it all. I started at the first post where everyone was parroting what Chris told me. Defending him. So I dropped my curiosity. Until I came in contact with another member of the forum inquiring about some animals. I told him who i was and he said to do a search on my name in the forum . I said no; I wouldn't come up. Why would I ? A few days later I did just for the heck of it. Suprise my name address phone number. I was part of the business possibly Mrs. Jenna Johnson. Needless to say what have been reading was dated April. So I looked up the last posts most recent and wham!! Wow. I didn't want to get involved but; how I see it Chris involved me. I've never even bread or sold an animal and I'm dirt in the reptile community. If I do hatch any geckos I'll have to sell them to a local pet shop for 30.00. I saw what happened to Chris he had hundreds of geckos he couldn't keep up . So I planned on trading or selling any hatchlings. I admit I had no intrest in reptiles until I met Chris and I made fun of him calling him reptile boy. But I did find some cute reptiles and now have a love for them. I cant believe this. And I cant stand sitting here quietly; nor being slandered. I am an honest person. Heck I was a Criminal Justice major in college and in the Army ROTC. I wanted to be in the FBI. I have fully cooperated with law enforcement and honestly answered all questions parroting what I was told by Chris, confused and startled as to why law enforcement was investigating a Pay Pal dispute. The local Detective named Martz who spoke to me said some guy in Florida called and he had to follow up and that it was a civil matter. I never would have known the scale of this if I hadn't stumbled on to the BOI. I always browse the classifieds here and on Kingsnake window shopping really. Wishing and wanting. I don't even know what to say. It looks like his white lies involved me how else does anyone now my name. Ive never posted. I don't know enough about reptiles to.I just read and learn and drool over animals. I'm sorry for chris and anyone owed money. I don't believe he intended to go belly up and mess anybody over. he owes the landlord 3 months rent he said that was why he had to move. and i am dumb founded at the amount of money owed to people. what was he selling that added up to that 15,000 total. and where did the money go is it in pay pal like he says? does anyone know for sure? has anyone taled to pay pal such as law enforcement to find out if the money is there as he says it is? what is the snake het thing everyone is going on about?
Click to expand...

Chris told us all that he was in the hospital. That he couldn’t respond.
Chris@TSE said:
More like a bout of mono followed by two heart attacks and a few procedures to go. Genetics is a bi*ch.
Click to expand...

Chris@TSE said:
I apologize for my illness, apparently things have been hectic for the guys but they are trying their very best. Please be patient.

PS. I am not up to communicating via a BOI thread at the moment so you will have to excuse me... this will be my only response to this post. I was alerted via email by a few members and figured some sort of acknowledgement was required and you guys summed most of it up in a nutshell for us. I thank you, you guys are great. I hope to be back around soon. Praises, complaints, questions, anything can be sent to [email protected] as this thread will not be monitored. The guys have better things to do, like ship orders! :)
Click to expand...


Not that it matters now but I’m just curious, if any of it was true.

Chris mentioned several guys were running his "facility". Did he ever have any employees?

I must admit that I was the one that gave your phone number to one of the individuals Chris scammed in this thread.Due to the fact there was a thread saying you were part of the business and that phone number was listed at the business address we had for Chris.
 
Gecko_Den said:
Out of curiousity, can you confirm if Chris was so sick that he was on his death bed, or was that another of his lies? Also, do Glen and Pat actually exist or did he make them up as well? Thanks for any answers you can provide, and for the info you have already posted!
Click to expand...
LOL, we do that a lot.
At least this time you got it in first.
 
janga2021 said:
did you just say that my private home number was listed as his buisness number?
Click to expand...
No, what I said was that the address given for his business, (supplied by Chris) showed your number at that address. One time in the past, you were listed as a person along with Chris that sent a snake to a buyer. Your phone came up during that search. It was never posted on the forums. I believe you received a call from the only gentleman I gave it to, privately. Chris responded here stating that the gentleman harassed you and your child. If I remember correctly.
 
Jenna

I comend you for trying to help sort out this mess. I was a supporter of Chris very early on in this thread believing that he was very ill. I was not taken for any money, nor have I ever done business with Chris.

I do hope in the coming days that you can help some of the people here. I also hope that you will not have to bare any of the burdon from Chris and his misdoings, it seems to me that you have been through enough already.

Thank you for coming forward and telling your side of the story. Take care my dear.
 
Jenna, the het thing is, Chris sold a bunch of ball pythons that he said he bred. They are said to be hets for different morphs. Did Chris have breeder morph ball pythons?
 
chris does have a heart condition. in the las 12 months he has had two stints put in. he now has to have open heart surgery. they have to put some kind of device in to his left ventrical. he has been sick since i have known him. it is genetic his grand father and father had the same condition. the males in his family do not live to even fifty.
 
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