Oh noā¦
TWF ~ I think Van was referring to a post made on page one but I could be mistaken.
prepsterlb ~ First, ditto everything TWF said. Second, I am so sorry to hear about this Scott. The police were wrong in saying you had enough money to sue civillyā¦as TWF said, fraud is a crime!!! Period!! However, I can tell you that I talked with Police, Detectives, District Attorneys and the likes in 9 cities within 4 states. NONE wanted to get involvedā¦all said they recommended going through civil courtā¦even had one DA in Gulfport MS say āItās ONLY $30,000.00ā. At which point I asked her how much she made per year and if she found out she had lost $30,000.00 due to fraud what would she doā¦did she have an extra 30K laying around the house!!!
Unfortunately it is this type of attitude that the criminals depend on. They know how hard it is to get anything pushed through criminally and most people donāt have the money or the time to pursue it civilly. And usually getting a Warrant in Debt is useless because these criminals donāt put anything in their namesā¦you are left with a useless piece of paper saying someone owes you money. I have said it many timesā¦there are no laws to specifically protect a horse and/or itās owner. There are lawyers on the BB who might argue this point however, I am speaking from 8 years of experience researching āhorseā fraud and working with the Dept of Justice, etc.
The best advice I received was the day I found out my daughters pony had been sold without my knowledge. I went directly to someone I knew, a lawyer, who is now my Congressman here in VA. When I presented all the evidence I was told it was definitely fraud and definitely criminalā¦I had 1 year to sue and they encouraged me to try and get it heard in a criminal court. I then spoke with another friend who was a retired Federal judge who told me the same thing, and then added that fraud was the hardest thing to prove in his courtroom.
What made our case different were the shear number of victims and states involved. That is why the FBI picked up the caseā¦after a phone call from a wonderful Detective who realized he could not help all the people who were calling him asking for help.
Re-read TWFās post. Find as many other victims as you can. If any animals crossed state lines then it becomes Federal. As far as I know none of the victims listed in the original FBI investigation sued civilly but I will check on that for you. I do know there were other victims who surfaced once they were in prison and some did sue but I believe their cases were dropped due to the cost of legal fees, etc. I will see what I can find on those as well.
There is a gal in CA who is working to strengthen the laws there. I know it does not help you at the moment but you are a prime example of why we need protection. She may be able to help you. I will send you her contact info via email. I am also expecting a call on Monday, on an unrelated issue, from the US Attorney who prosecuted our caseā¦I will ask his advice and pass it along. I will also email you copies of documentsā¦perhaps they too will help you.
Please keep up the fight!! I KNOW it is hard but until more people stand up and fight to make changes this type of criminal behavior will continue and most probably escalate.
Good luck and keep me up-dated!
Debbie Hanson
:yes: :yes:
