Buying from a convicted smuggler???

[RebelYell83]

Ok,,,i am amking this its own thread now,but i was cruising google lastnight,and stumbeled on an article discussing an animals smuggling ring arrested in the 90s,,and in it was the names of 2 people,who are today,still active in the reptile industry,one that plead guilty to 2 counts of conspiricy,and the other guy and his wife,fled the country to belize i believe it was,and then had to come back to face thier charges.This is my main question involving the 2nd gentleman,and here is an excert,without the names,from usdoj.gov

***** ******* was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Orlando. He pleaded guilty in January, 1999, to seven felony counts of conspiracy, smuggling and violating the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife statute. At the time of his plea, ******* already was on supervised release and had served a prison sentence for smuggling endangered Fiji Island Iguanas into the United States in 1995

Both of these men are still selling animals and breeding now,and one of them,if not both advertises on kingsnake.com

my question to pose to everybody is this,no matter what thier BOI says about them,would you knowingly purchase from of these gentleman,,or only if thier BOI says they are great guys now,,or would you let the fact that they was involved with smuggling,keep you from buying from them??

personally,i wouldnt do business with either,based solely on the fact that they did do this,but is that a double standard,as i am a believe that if they did thier time,then they should get a fresh start???

[Patrick Long]

Tom Crutchfield I am assuming?

[AaronP]

Tom Crutchfield I am assuming?

That's what I'm thinking too...

[frankykeno]

This was an interesting read. Picked it up recently at my local library......

http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptil...zard-king.aspx

[TheMolenater2]

This was an interesting read. Picked it up recently at my local library......

http://www.reptilechannel.com/reptil...zard-king.aspx

Saw an add for this in Reptile magazine. Looks like it really uncovers the world of reptile smuggling well.

[PythonWallace]

I was thinking Reid from Captive Bred Specialties.

[Patrick Long]

I posted a review about that book maybe six months ago when it first came out. Loved it. Read it in 2 days.

Shows the light on the dirty side of this business.


As far as your question goes, no matter who it is.....

I think something like this should be looked past once he has served his time.

Hell, a lot of the blood lines that we have in captivity are products of smuggled animals.

He was a dirty dude....but we have animals in captivity that many people own because of him (not just reptiles either).

[Patrick Long]

I was thinking Reid from Captive Bred Specialties.

OP did say two.

[PythonWallace]

OP did say two.

I think Reid had a partner in Hawaii or or Miami or something. I need to read that book since that was the only smuggler I knew. I saw your review of it and I've been meaning to get a copy.

[waltah!]

Ok, now I gotta pick up that book!