Snake deal gone bad

A guy is suppose to meet up with a buyer for his 20 snakes ($12,600), he gets shot and carjacked:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20..._in_Delco.html

And thus the reason I'm getting my CCW.

"you'd think the snake guy would rob the other guy for cash and not the other way around" ?????

No... Not in this hobby.. Someone really needs to start explaining to people that to many people the BP hobby is like crack cocaine. Certainly worth as much, and with as many thousands of people involved as there is, it blows my mind that anyone would be surprised at this.

I hope they manage to catch the guy. They need to let the victim look through a bunch of mugs after they draw up a composite. Maybe they can ID the guy.

Wow, that's wild! A little too close to home for me. Makes me glad I know how to shoot and that I have a personal bodyguard, lol!

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Originally Posted by JulieInNJ

Wow, that's wild! A little too close to home for me. Makes me glad I know how to shoot and that I have a personal bodyguard, lol!

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Personal Bodygaurd!?!?

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

Personal Bodygaurd!?!?

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Yep. A boyfriend, lol!

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Originally Posted by JulieInNJ

Yep. A boyfriend, lol!

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That's like bringing a sausage to a gunfight.. Lol!

He's armed I hope? (no pun intended ;)

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

That's like bringing a sausage to a gunfight.. Lol!

He's armed I hope? (no pun intended ;)

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Lol! Nah...he can just use the bazooka I keep in my trunk!

wow crazy story and im shocked it happened right where i grew up in PA.. Damn. Its things like this that i can understand why people are so sketchy about doing deals.

That's why I moved away from Philadelphia. It gets more ghetto every time I visit my family.

Thats too bad! Definitely a deal that should have been done during the day at a busy place, especially there lol. I would of at least locked my doors and brought some fire power of my own for that little punk!!

When you treat a snake sale like a drug deal...

Why would anyone meet in a shopping center parking lot to sell 12 grand in snakes?
It sounds like he got his snakes back, although the news reporter didn't write the article very well.

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"You'd think the snake guy would rob the other guy for the cash, not the other way around," Willoughby said.

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Ignorant statement :rolleyes:

Just when I'm starting to think that it's silly to carry my gun to a $10 rat sale....

Freaking crazy people.

Seems like this kind of thing is getting all too common these days... Craigslist is a scary place lol


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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/23...a-parking-lot/ anyone know why the police would be keeping the ball pythons do they have to keep them as evidence or what?

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Originally Posted by rivunel

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/23...a-parking-lot/ anyone know why the police would be keeping the ball pythons do they have to keep them as evidence or what?

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"The snakes were also recovered from the crashed car. Willoughby told the Philadelphia Daily News that police will keep the snakes until they can figure out what to do with them."

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Apparently it's hard to give them back to the guy who got shot? Surely he has somebody who can take them back to their home and take care of them until he's out of the hospital?

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

When you treat a snake sale like a drug deal...

Why would anyone meet in a shopping center parking lot to sell 12 grand in snakes?
It sounds like he got his snakes back, although the news reporter didn't write the article very well.

Ignorant statement :rolleyes:

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Its not an ignorant statement at all. If someone told me this story I would assume that the person selling the snakes didn't actually have any snakes and was in fact the one doing the robbing. As the person coming to buy the snakes was suppose to have 12k on them. I would be surprised to see a person trying to steal 20 snakes. Much easier to spend 12k without getting caught than to work with 20 snakes without getting caught.

... I worry about people more and more when things like this happen.

I like to think that the people I meet and talk to over the internet are all lovely and trustworthy, but I am getting more and more jaded.

Sad times.

There has always been, and always will be thugs that try to take advantage of situations. They look for anywhere a mark can be found. And IMO anyone bringing that many snakes to a parking lot is a mark.

Be careful out there folks.

I do meet up with local customers in public places like parking lots, but I choose crowded ones, and it's for single animals.

My home isn't insured to have customers inside, and I don't have a store front, so it's either bring them to their home, or meet publicly. Most of my animals are shipped, so only local sales work this way sometimes.

A lot of other reptile keepers are paranoid about giving out their home address and having people come there, including some of my customers.
It's a shock to see something like this happen, though, but I'm glad the perp did not get away with the snakes.

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Willoughby said last night that a slight possibility remains that the gunman was not the snake buyer, and that he might have randomly carjacked the Doylestown man before the buyer arrived from New York.

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Interesting. I'm curious to see how this unfolds.

Rumor's have it that the victim is Mark Haas. If it is true please keep them in your prayers.

Omg!!! People are sooo crazy! What the hell is wrong with this world.


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So, uh...are the snakes okay? I'm not seeing any mention of that in the article. Apparently they were run into a pole and probably left in a cold car for several hours. Anyone have info on this?

I know a bit of inside info, and can tell you that the snakes were all returned back to the breeder and are all safe.

Sorry Mods, I don't know where this should go....

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/01/23...est=latestnews

"Police hunt gunman after shooting during snake sale in Philadelphia parking lot

Police are searching for the man who shot a Pennsylvania reptile enthusiast who was trying to sell snakes in a shopping center parking lot.

Ridley Township police said a Doylestown man had arranged to sell 20 ball pythons for $12,600 to a New York City man Sunday night, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Police reportedly believe the buyer shot and robbed the snake seller before stealing his Toyota RAV4 and the 20 snakes.

"It ends up the guy that was supposed to buy the snakes shoots him," Ridley Police Detective Lt. Scott Willoughby told the newspaper.

Willoughby said the shooter crashed nearby, then fled on foot. Investigators recovered a pair of handguns they say he tossed as he fled.

The snakes were also recovered from the crashed car. Willoughby told the Philadelphia Daily News that police will keep the snakes until they can figure out what to do with them.

The shooting victim, whose name has not been released, was hospitalized in stable condition at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.

Police described the alleged gunman as a black man, wearing black clothes and likely in his early 20s, according to the newspaper. "

Crazy Crazy Crazy... this is exactly why anytime anyone sees me in public, I am packing heat....

This is CERTAINLY the case when I meet someone for a snake deal. This is also why NOBODY EVER comes to my house.

This is crazy! However dealing with products/ animals in that price range things can always go bad. I have heard of similar stories regarding pit bull puppies a few years ago.


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it was me. :cool:

No seriously though, that's messed up..

It is Mark Haas who was shot, hope he has a speedy recovery.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/br...137931638.html

thats 20 minutes from me,thats why i dont do cl deals to much,hope he has a speedy recovery and all ends well.
As ex-military and i have a permit to carry doenst mean u are 100% safe,there are more illegal guns and dishonst people out there than legal gun owners.
I just hope i never have to use it,i dont think anything is worth a life(mine or theirs).

I didn't see where it said anything about this being a CL deal.... $12,600 snake deal done through CL? I don't think so....

Speedy recovery to Mark. Really really scary.

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Originally Posted by Foschi Exotic Serpents

I didn't see where it said anything about this being a CL deal.... $12,600 snake deal done through CL? I don't think so....

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Exactly! Prob 95% of snake deals between private individuals are done in public places. Doesn't matter how the buyer and seller find each other. That size deal coming from craigslist is unlikely.. Certainly possible, but unlikely.

Ya gotta wonder... If the guy was selling books, pipes, gold fish, gold, or even dogs, do you think what he was selling would have made it into the story? Even better, do you think the item sold would be in all the headlines?

I think not.

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

Exactly! Prob 95% of snake deals between private individuals are done in public places. Doesn't matter how the buyer and seller find each other. That size deal coming from craigslist is unlikely.. Certainly possible, but unlikely.

Ya gotta wonder... If the guy was selling books, pipes, gold fish, gold, or even dogs, do you think what he was selling would have made it into the story? Even better, do you think the item sold would be in all the headlines?

I think not.

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I'm still trying to figure out wether or not it was good for us that this DID show up in the news.. On one hand it gives the general public an idea just how big this hobby is. It proves these animal are worth a LOT. On the other hand, it almost makes it seem like a black market sort of thing to those who have no clue.

Just yesterday a local news branch published a story on how the ban is affecting breeders and how they feel about it. I guess I'm grateful the press were getting isn't stories of people being hurt or injured by the animals so much as being hurt by others.. Plus I'm doubly grateful that both Mark and all the snakes are ok.

I don't know Mark, but I pray for a speedy recovery for him.

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