Snakes stolen!!! Attention!

We had someone break into our building last night and take several animals, one being our icon Pewter Pied female. We have a good indication of who this scumbag is but we are not authorized to say names yet. As funny as this may sound, I'm trying to keep this low profile on facebook because I'm 99.9% certain they do not visit the actual snake forums such as this one. It is my belief these people really didn't know what they were looking for other than the Pewter Pied and Pied stuff. There were much more valuable animals in the same racks and they skipped over them. Both I believe are under the age of 18.

Here are the animals taken.

2011 Albino Carpet Male
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps00f040d5.jpg

2010 Pewter Pied Female
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...s/DSCF2233.jpg

2009 Pewter het Pied Female
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...psbc17ca80.jpg

2012 Vanishing Sterling Male
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps13653a16.jpg

2005 Pied Female
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps2898d23b.jpg

2011 Pied Female not the best pic but a start.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...psf846215f.jpg

2013 Pastel 66% het VPI Male
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps037a197b.jpg

2013 Pewter Savannah Male
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...ps0002d388.jpg

2013 Genetic Banded Albino Male no pic.

Any help or insight is appreciated.

Thanks
Brandon Osborne
pied9000 at yahoo dot com

Sorry to hear about your situation! Hopefully you can catch these jerks and get the animals back. That really sucks! Sorry and keep us informed.

Wow. I'm really sorry this happened to you. Those are very nice animals. I hope things work out for you. I hope you can get you animals back safe & sound and for those guys to get caught.

Please keep us updated. My thoughts are with you and your snakes.

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I think I'm in your area or close by. I'll keep my eyes and ears open.

What a bunch of lowlife scum. :/

That is so awful! I hope you get your babies back. That pewter pied is a gorgeous and unique animal...surely it would turn up if someone tried to sell it.

So sorry to hear, hope you get the people

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That's horrible. I seriously hope you guys get them all back and those jackasses get what they deserve.

Sorry to hear this! Makes me sick! Hope you guys catch the scum who's responsible!

Brandon, should we run across these at anytime what course of action do we need to take and what is the best and quickest way to get intouch should we be offered them or spot them some where?

I hate a thief! That is why I have cameras all around my property running nonstop. I hope you get all of your animals back and insist that charges be pressed on them regardless of age.

Sorry to hear that brother - that's some awful stuff

Prayers that your snakes will be returned home safely ASAP, and the miscreants prosecuted and sentenced to several years of cleaning tubs...

So sorry! i hope you get your animals back and they pay for what they did. So have these people ever seen your snake room before? These stories convince me to never show people my snake room once I get my own place.

im sorry to hear the news, hope you catch them soon. you should set up a few security cameras up to prevent it from happening again.

Brandon, sorry this happened to you, so awful. I hope you get them back as soon as possible.

Sorry to hear about this. Good luck on getting everything back and these people need to be prosucuted.

Hopefully you will recover your animals, and they will get what they deserve.

Thank you all. I can be contacted at 812-430-8798.

I'm sorry to hear this Brandon, geeze. I'm way over in AZ but I'll keep an eye/ear open here as well.

God that's terrible. I can't believe people can do this stuff. I hope you get them home safely.

Really sorry :( Check the local ads (like craigslist and stuff) as much as you can.

There's a reptile show going on here in MN this coming weekened, I'll keep an eye open for you.

That is terrible news. It's not like you can pass something as unique as that as your own product. I hope you get your snakes back and the (bad words in here) folks get what they deserve! This platform here is huge. There are eyes and ears paying attention!!!!

got eyes out in texas here too :gj:

Some unique animals, and they will turn up somewhere! I can't believe people like that

I hope you get all of your animals back safely and those little *bleep*s get what's coming to them.

I despise thieves!! Hope you get your property back Brandon. I check fauna and kingsnake daily so I'll keep my eyes open.

So sorry to hear I will keep my eyes open hopefully you catch them soon.

Muslim justice is a good thing in some cases this is one of them.
Hope you get your animals back, and karma sends the theives face first into a wood chipper.
Sorry if that seems harsh, but if you think you have the right to take what I've
worked hard for,you get whats coming to you.

Sorry to hear. Hope they are returned unharmed.

Don't think I can do much down here in Florida. Although, I will certainly keep an eye out on Craigslist. Good luck on the safe return of your snakes!

Wow...people disgust me. I hope you get them all back soon and teach the thief/thieves a lesson.

Wow. I am so sorry this happened to you. Hope you get them all back safe and sound.

Horrible news. I am hoping for the best possible snakes-returned result. Too many scumbags in the world. Really sorry to hear this Brandon.

Makes me feel sick to my stomach. Someone didn't learn the golden rule :(

Brandon, I am so sorry to hear this, and angry! I hope you are able to find them safe and sound quickly. You actually know me in real life as I'm also on the board of our herp society. Will you be at the meeting next week? And unless you say otherwise, I won't say anything to our group since you mentioned wanting to keep it off Facebook.

I wonder if these people realize they'll most likely be facing a felony. Its not like pewter pieds are very common, good luck selling them. I hope the close knit, family like atmosphere of this hobby can get these scumbags caught and get brandon his snakes back.

You aren't too far from me, so I'm keeping my eyes and ears open here as well. We got a show coming up in another month or so, so you better believe I'll be whispering this in as many ears as I can.

Gale

Sorry to hear this. Hope your snakes return safe & sound and the thief gets what he deserves.

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Any update?

**fingers crossed**

We got'em! All but two animals were recovered, although not without issues. Being I haven't seen a mite in my collection since bringing them home from Orlando in 1999, I was sad to see several on the snakes and the Carpet already showing a bit of distress from being kept in very cold conditions. With that said, the only animals still missing are the Savannah Pewter and the Vanishing Sterling.

First let me thank you all for the encouragement and support. It has been a very traumatic situation from the moment we noticed the break-in. The friends in the reptile community involved in helping, I can not begin to express my gratitude. I am proud to be part of such a tight-knit group of local breeders and enthusiasts.

Joe Yuris! If you don't know Joe, you need to. Joe is a coordinator of the Wabash Valley Reptile Expo and is building a great show in the Wabash Valley. With his help, we set up a sting within hours of the theft. Joe's savvy acting led these scumbags to believe he was new to snakes but had a very large sum of money to spend on these rare animals. He played dumb so well these guys actually thought he would hand over $35K in cash at a food stand in the ghetto. Joe, I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH!!!!

Now comes the waiting game. Since the two that broke in and took the animals are minors, there is a chance they will both be let off with a slap on the wrist.
The conspirator, Kenneith "Deuce" Willett, is being charged with residential burglary, destruction of property, and distribution of stolen property.


He has a lengthy arrest record but has the attitude of "I'm 17 and they can't do anything to me." Since he will be 18 in 6 weeks we are going to press the prosecutor to process him as an adult. The great thing is, I have friends working in the police dept. and they have friends that are prosecutors. He may finally go away for a while if we get lucky.

The other, "the girlfriend", may not be so lucky. Kelsey Phillips


Sadly, not so much for her but for her unborn baby, she does not look as healthy as in this picture. She is a few months pregnant and looks very strung out on drugs. She is being held on charges of possession of stolen property. She admitted not knowing they were going to steal the animals but knew about it after the fact.....and was present for "the deal". We are pressing charges to the fullest and will be working to make sure her case is not thrown out. Since members of my family have known his dad and step mother for nearly 20 years, they asked me to make him pay to the fullest.

The last is a kid named Chase. I do not have a last name or picture but he is the one that spilled the beans. Apparently, Deuce told the cops I didn't take care of my animals and they would be better taken care of in his possession. Chase actually told the truth from what I was understand. He admitted to breaking in, taking animals, leaving on foot, and Deuce actually going back to take more. Douche asked him if he wanted to make some quick easy cash.....ummm, yeah.

I am still dumbfounded at just how stupid these people are. All three of them said "I didn't have anything to do with this" when I stepped out of the car as they were on the ground handcuffed. It was as epic as epic gets. We are going to press for restitution for both missing animals as well as damages to the building.

Again, I thank you all for your concern and support. I am honored to be a part of such a great community and would offer the same support and help to any of you. I hope no one ever goes through this experience. I will keep you all posted on any updates.

Sincerely,
Brandon Osborne
Osborne Reptiles

Brandon I'm glad to hear you got your animals back. But to be honest are you truly shocked at how stupid these people are? If they were as intelligent as you put them up today they would've gotten a good education a good job and done things the right way. There's always someone out there who think they deserve your hard work more than you do once again I'm glad you got your animals back.

So glad they were caught!!

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I am so sooo glad you got them back! I am hoping for the safe return of your other animals, and i hope "Douche" gets what every douche deserves.

sent from my incubator

SO glad to hear it, Brandon! And hopefully the last two will soon be home with you as well.

Wow! Killer story! So happy they were caught and you got most of your animals back! This was a terrible situation.

I'm so happy your got your animals back! I really hope you can recover the last stolen snakes. Too bad about the mite problem :(

Wow, I'm glad to see my gut feelings on the Willett kid were accurate. I've been contacted in the past by him about "adopting" snakes from me, except he asked if I wanted to trade snakes or would try to haggle with me on price, which is not really the best way to present yourself when I run a rescue and say I'm looking for a GOOD home. When I wouldn't sell him any, he started calling me names and accusing me of being a "fake" rescue (although I could never get out of him what exactly a "fake" rescue was). I black-listed him and talked to Chris about him as well.

I'm glad you got most of them back, and hope they will be ok and that the others are found quickly.

Thank goodness they were caught. And I'm glad to hear most of your animals were recovered. What a horrible ordeal. People are horrible. It just amazes me.

Really glad you got most of them back! Hope you get the rest back as well!!