Texas Reptile Expo Theft

[tjhammerhead]

Evidently some high end snakes were taken at the Texas Reptile Expo in Arlington this weekend. This quote was taken from one of the breeders who had animals stolen. I got this information from another forum.
I hope I'm not out of line posting this but I thought everyone should know so we can help stop this.

**JIM MASON**Here's the deal. Animals were left overnight, even though we and others seldom ever do leave them overnight. But we were assured multiple times the facility was secure with camears and alarm,etc. That the promoters would be the last ones to walk through and lock up,etc. Several vendors left animals with the trust we had paid for tables at a secure facility.
Well needless to say somebody screwed up somewhere. Someone came in through an INSIDE door, no forced entry. They knew what they wanted, it wasn't a smash and grab at all. They went through Craig Howards stuff just to get a display containing Sunglow boas and others. They even went to the point of remving everything I had stacked ontop of our displays and a drop cloth to remove 4 individual retics. Dwarf Tigers het Genetic Striped were taken. Supposedly another vendor had a snake stolen, and some money bags were went through. At this point no BP's were taken. These people went for particular animals.
Statements were taken, fingerprints were taken from Craigs deli's since he's the only one to handle them. My displays were not good for prints due to so many people touching them. And then we find out th cameras don't record!! SO our only hope comes down to prints and anyone see'ing someone suddenly pop up with Sunglows or our dwarf Tigers that are very unique.
We have individual pics of each animal taken. So hopefully they are stupid enough to post them somewhere. But oh well, EDIT happens I guess. I'm through being irate....

	Heterozygous Heterozygous - the animal carries the gene for a genetic trait but does not outwardly demonstrate the trait. Example: A boa that is het for albino looks normal but carries the albino gene. When it is bred to another het for albino boa or an albino boa, a percentage of the offspring will be albino.

[tmlowe5704]

i would say a lawsuit is at hand

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[MikeGreathouse]

Is the promoter or the facility accepting any responsibility since they "advertised" the site as being secure?

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[dball]

wow thats ridiculous, I would be livid. I would assume there will definately be a lawsuit.

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[Gargoyle12]

Originally Posted by MikeGreathouse

Is the promoter or the facility accepting any responsibility since they "advertised" the site as being secure?

I just wanted to respond to this because I was one of the vendors at this show. I personally never saw any advertisments saying the site would be secure and that any security guards were going to be on duty. I'm not saying there weren't any I'm just saying I never saw any and no one ever told me there would be.
Now in saying that I will say that there was a security guard on duty overnight and there was a security system on the building. Any more info than that I don't have and I wont repeat hearsay.
This was an unfortunate thing to have happen and everyone that was involved is doing all they can to help those people that lost their snakes. Police reports were filed, finger prints were taken and everyone that knows these people and their snakes are watching the boards and keeping an ear to the ground hoping something will come to light on the situation. The reptile community is very small and eventually something will come out you just have to be patient.
I know Craig Howard and I know this hurt him. Not just because of the money lost although that was substantial but also because it is heart breaking to not know what kind of situation your animals are in and not having any control over the situation. I didn't get the opportunity to speak to others than lost animals but I don't doubt they are feeling the same things.
Most if not all of these people are regulars at this show and know the promoters. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be made right by them in a way that is satisfactory to all parties that were personally hurt by this.

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[amercnwmn]

awww that is horrible! What a bad deal! Sounds like it was definitely someone who knew what they wanted and where to get it, which means they were probably pretty familiar with the locations after the show. There really isnt room for theives like that, that is horrible.
I would think the hotel or convention center would have insurance for something like that?

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[Bschott]

Wow.

Sorry for your animals. I guess the only thing I could think of is that if it was an 'inside' job from someone that worked at the event center or had worked there. Not many people are going to be able to get into a place, know what security is like (cameras not working, what door to use) and then get out undetected. But that's just my thoughts.

Someone cased the event as well. They knew what they wanted and where to get it, so they had to have been at the event to know where to go.

Now not to #$%^&#$%^&#$%^&#$%^& anyone off, as obviously no one but the police, event staff, and breeders have the inside information, but my thoughts fall in a few different directions.

1) Personal theft.
Someone stole these animals for themselves. They plan on keeping all or some of the animals. This can be good or bad. Good if suddenly someone starts buying feeder mice/rats or (if they have animals already) they buy increased numbers of feeders. We are creatures of habit, and normally will not deviate from that if we can help it. Someone is bound to notice a friend has a few more pets…or some customer is buying a few more feeders than they normally would. Bad though if the person has enough animals that a few more will go unnoticed.

2) Personal theft/profit.
Someone stole these animals specifically to make cash. Either they will post these animals for sale in 6-8 months or more (a crook smart enough to make this snatch and grab isn't going to be stupid and post pics on the net right away… but I have been wrong before), and keep a few for themselves, or they have buyers arranged already.

3) Store Theft.
Least likely. A not-to-legit business (not necessarily local) stole the animals (or had them stolen) for sale. Because of the type of animals, this sounds least likely.

People knew some unique animals were going to be at this event. They knew which animals to grab. My thoughts lie to…

4) Breeder theft.
Not saying someone at the show! I am thinking a breeder that bought a ticket and attended the show. They stole the animals for themselves for producing more unique snake to sell later. First, they know how to handle the animals and transport them. Second, if they are seen, they are at a snake expo so who is going to question someone with an SUV or van loading snakes in the back.

Problem with all these is it sounds like the work of someone who knew security at the event center, and most of these scenarios it is very unlikely the person who wanted the snakes would have the access.

Love to know they caught the person.

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[crush]

My buddies store was robbed last night. They took Albino Boas,Sarinams,Puru,Hets for Albino,Nics and a Gator about 18" long. All of the snakes were babies.