• 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
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    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)

I understand people looking into it but it completely blows my mind that many people knew my email address and never even bothered to contact me, instead they just kept damaging my reputation, its one thing if they contacted me and I ignored them , and as I said the two emails I received I promptly and professionally responded to them. Its another to just say "hey heres an email address of a guy named Chris who lives in buffalo, im not gonna even bother contacting him but im gonna damage his rep and heck while im at it i'll contact his dojo without having any evidence and ask his sensei who wouldn't know anything about this". That is where my problem with all this comes in.
 
I'd be ticked too. Whoever did that was completely out of line. But when people get crapped on (by TSE) it would probably make them throw all notions of sense out the window in order to catch the perp. I know I'd be going crazy too. So it was senseless and a bit invasive, but at least now it can be resolved. Kudos for sticking up for yourself.
 
Again, I am very sorry that you were involved wrongfully, and I am glad you came here to clear things up. I wwas under the impresion that you had already been contacted, or I would have emailed you myself. Even the chance of someone associating me with someone like Chris Johnson, with the thousands of dollars he stole from us, and the people left with either very expensive normals or with nothing at all to show for their hard earned money.....well, I'd be mighty upset as well....as I am sure you can imagine we all were and still are.
 
LadyOhh said:
I hate to bring this up to the forefront again, but I am looking for assistance in finding a good New York lawyer to begin proceedings. I have put some feelers out there, but if anyone from the New York state has any connections, it would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, things have been slow, and yes, I am taking over.
Click to expand...

Heather, out of curiosity has anyone contacted the Attorney General in his state with some of this information. I apologize if that has already been brought up but the only things I remember seeing when this thread was going on was about a detective that had been contacted. The reason I am asking is that I recently had to contact the AG in my state to help with an issue regarding a car dealership, and things moved very quickly after that. Since he no longer runs the business I am not sure what they would be able to do, but if it was registered as a Sole Proprietorship than they may have more options. At the very least they could provide information or suggestions.
 
Casey a Civil case was brought to court and there was a judgment awarded - penalties and costs that Chris needs to pay to the tune of about $48K. It doesn't appear that a criminal charges are being brought against him :shrug01: As Chris is missing there is little to no chance that anyone will see the $$$ from the judgment - Chris could potentially live for a very long time flying under the radar, getting paid under the table and not have to deal with this. :angry: :angry:
 
Okay, I had not checked up on this since back when it first started. I have several "TSE Hets" but they are all second hand purchases. It's frustrating to see someone like this get to walk away after the damage he has done to people. Thanks for the update.
 
The AG was contacted and complaints were filed. The last correspondance I recieved from them basically said that they investigated the matter and there was nothing they could do for us.
 
Has anyone

ever met Detective Brown (face to face) on the matter of Top Shelf. Has anyone ever made an appointment to speak to an ADA on the matter. I am just looking for an update.

JERRY
 
I did not

read some of the previous posts, so I am glad that at least some judgements were awarded. It will only help in hurting his credit capabilities until he decides that once he has enough debt against him, he will go bankrupt. More than likely chapter 7. So I am sure he is being guided by some attorney who is watching over him.

The reason why this is happening is because he more than likely does not owe any money to any banks. Then he would not be able to go bankrupt so easily. But if its a business other than borrowing money, the judgements of 48K is not large enough as yet to warrant the filing . This is just conjecture on my part, but it seems to make sense now that no criminal matters are hanging over his head.

That would have been the key to provide restitution. But unfortunately, our jurisprudence seems to have a lopsided system of justice.
 
Ricky, that's not really very constructive, lol. We're ALL frustrated and hurt by this....

I think a big part of how slow everything progressed was due to waiting on information from those who were ripped off, and the fact that crime over the internet has a whole new set of issues to deal with, as opposed to buying something from the business down the street.

People have not given up on this. If he pops up somewhere, he WILL be found out. We're watching and waiting.
 
KNOBTAIL said:
ever met Detective Brown (face to face) on the matter of Top Shelf. Has anyone ever made an appointment to speak to an ADA on the matter. I am just looking for an update.

JERRY
Click to expand...


I have not, but I have spoken to him several times over the phone, and I will be in New York in May and may ask to see him then. (Family issues, but... I may be able to squeeze it in)
 
ReptileEmpire said:
Heather, out of curiosity has anyone contacted the Attorney General in his state with some of this information. I apologize if that has already been brought up but the only things I remember seeing when this thread was going on was about a detective that had been contacted. The reason I am asking is that I recently had to contact the AG in my state to help with an issue regarding a car dealership, and things moved very quickly after that. Since he no longer runs the business I am not sure what they would be able to do, but if it was registered as a Sole Proprietorship than they may have more options. At the very least they could provide information or suggestions.
Click to expand...


SVT Snake said:
The AG was contacted and complaints were filed. The last correspondance I recieved from them basically said that they investigated the matter and there was nothing they could do for us.
Click to expand...


Thanks, Derek, for getting that one for me... Sorry It took so long to answer.
 
I wonder what Chris Johnson's profit level was from this scam. I am going to guess a couple of hundred thousand dollars. A tidy sum for no work. No punishment. I wonder what kind of scam he will do next? Penny stocks? Real estate? His success at reptiles must have been noticed by many. I am sure there are copycats working the het scam hard right now.
 
But this time, people have hopefully learned from others mistakes and buy from TRUSTWORTHY people. (Yes, Hindsite is 20/20)

Its very unfortunate how that ends up working, but I guess doing your homework and asking for more info will have to be the way it works.

I hope others learn from our mistakes...
 
brucestephenson said:
I wonder what Chris Johnson's profit level was from this scam. I am going to guess a couple of hundred thousand dollars. A tidy sum for no work. No punishment. I wonder what kind of scam he will do next? Penny stocks? Real estate? His success at reptiles must have been noticed by many. I am sure there are copycats working the het scam hard right now.
Click to expand...


Yes there are.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97294
 
Cat_72 said:
If he pops up somewhere, he WILL be found out.
Click to expand...
The same thing happened with Tim Bowles...he ripped people off, disappeared, then resurfaced as 'Everett Slagle' of Snowballs Ball Pythons. Which btw...Everett Slagle is his deaceased father in law. So now everyone knows that he is a partner in Snowballs Ball Pythons and he posts as 'Snowballs' and nobody wants to have anything to do with him. Like you said Cat...it was only a matter of time before he was found out.
 
Ghi Reptiles said:
The same thing happened with Tim Bowles...he ripped people off, disappeared, then resurfaced as 'Everett Slagle' of Snowballs Ball Pythons. Which btw...Everett Slagle is his deaceased father in law. So now everyone knows that he is a partner in Snowballs Ball Pythons and he posts as 'Snowballs' and nobody wants to have anything to do with him. Like you said Cat...it was only a matter of time before he was found out.
Click to expand...

Yep....and we will be watching and waiting for him. People like him are usually pretty easy to spot. Their ego trips them up every time. :dgrin:
 
Well maybe they aren't hets......

My last egg just hatched from a pair of "100% Het High Contrast Albinos" I got from TSE this morning. There were 6 eggs and I was holding out for the possiblity that I got an albino in that last one but no luck. This was my first year breeding this pair and I must say, it looks like I was struck by the normal for het trick as well. I am going to try them again next year but I don't have my hopes up. I am sure they are both just normal animals that I paid way too much for.
 
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