She has been in Valdosta Ga the last year and half.She kept bringing in horses (lied about where she was getting them) everyone got REAL suspicious including vets,This is a small knit community and we are determined to get the word out because she lied and used alot of people here and lied to people who she was getting these horses from ( and then selling them for profit and they were suppose to be in light work or pasture mates, had issues that she failed to tell buyers about. some were dangereous( landed buyer in hospital for a week).That is just part of the scamming
YES we have lived with her here in valdosta ga for 1 1/2 years and she slid right in and joined our local GMO chapter and preceded to hood wink many in the club and sold them horses ( drugged and with issues) So many lies, Please spread word .I have the flyer as a attachment and would like to get it out there through emails.Need to focus on NC population because we have reason to believe that that is where she went
Weâve merged the duplicate threads on this topic into one in Off Course, which is visited from users across disciplines.
Thanks,
Mod 1
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ok sorry, its been awhile since Ive been on COTH but its the greatest forum ever:) Because of this post we have been in contact/ found two victim and will be very helpful in investigations .They replied to the gmail on the flyer.
WE have gotton some very good info about some of the horses that have fallen prey to her schemes because of this post on COTH.THANK YOU and please spread the word.
Just thought Iâd add her name to the thread to maybe alert someone should they google her.
Melissa Thurston, Melissa Anne Thurston, aka scumbag.
I wonder why she keeps using her real name:confused:
She was hitting the Washington D.C. area in early August. Scammed an underage kid that I know. Windy Willow, I messaged you on fb with info.
Man I am sorry to hear she scammed and underage kid, that is just horrible. But I do have to say she is good really good! She fooled everyone for a long time, I even looked at one of her horses, was all set up to go get him and for some reason she kept giving me the run around, oh Im out of town right now, yada yada. Just so glad things worked out the way they did and I didnât end up with one of these horses, whom some had some serious mental problems!! Also wanted to add she uses every bit of the lies on the flier, child has diabetes and is really sick (no what is sick is you made this up about your own child!), that her family is big into race horses, sheâs a vet but just doesnât want to practice, and that she is a usdf judge. I feel really bad for the horses that fell victim to her as they had no voice in it.
Do people not get these horses vetted because she claims to be a vet? Just wondering.
The kid didnât know enough to even call me to help her. She called, all happy that she was the proud owner of her very own horse and wanted a saddle from me. By judicious questioning, I got enough of the story out of her to contact her Mom. Her mom had no idea that she had used all of her hard earned summer job money for the horse. I was sick that I didnât know in time to explain how to buy a horse, and block the sale.
She is ringing some bells with meâŠwas she, perchance, at the boarding stable on Langley AFB in Hampton, VA back in 2003? Man, that non-practicing vet thing and the types of stories that woman told. Really sounds like her.
Thanks for the heads up. She is one that hasnât found me yet! I collect liars and thieves for a hobbyâŠ:sigh:
our local vet were not passing the horses and were
getting suspicious, especially some were asking alot of money for
Wicker, I have not got you PM on FB,Can you relAY INFO TO THE EMAIL ON THE FLYER PLEASE! SHE DID GO BACK AND FORTH FROM gA TO va, ny NC.wILL NEED INFO ON HORSE ALSO!!
Windy Willow,
I just emailed the info to the email on the flyer. Will you get it also? (The fb message is in your âother folderâ according to fb.)
UPDATE:
We have been successful at getting the word out.We have found owners of warmblood horses with issues that she sold deceitfully, enabling us to put them in touch with their original owner for some for them to find out the truth and facts about the horses she sold them. With well over 2000 shares, we are determined.This person did wrong by joining our horse community,our local dressage and CT chapter and lying about where she was getting these horses,lying about who she was, she made friends in our club so she was placing the horses at different locations as she was bringing them to Ga ( mostly from , VA,KY,NC )One story was her family( she was heiress to Browning gun with trust funds) had a sporthorse breeding facility in NY and they were disposing of their sporthorses and TBâs ( into racing also âŠof couse, Another was she promised her dying cousin that she would find good homes for all her upper level dressage horses.One of the first horses was a huge paint horse (out of Art Deco) perfect first two days , then turned into a spookaholic with hoof issues
She left Ga two days earlier than planned and IGNORED a notice for her to pick up a subpoena at the courthouse. The Lowndes county court of masgistrate were asked not to send it by mail.SHES LEAVING THE STATE AND SHES GOING TO STOP AT THE COURTHOUSE TO PICK UP A SUBPOENA??
She is getting away with everything. This is the second civil lawsuit that we know of that she has ducked. A person living in NC gave her a custom saddle to take to Ocala to put on consignment ( she had bought one of her unsound warmbloods) The saddle never made it to ocala and she sold it to someone in our chapter and kept the money.
Keep sharing please, we are trying to cover every state because Melissa has no bounderies, we believe that she may now be going back to her home state of NY and probably will lay low since word is out and so many are onto her game now.
Thanks COTH for existing and letting horse people be able to come here for information!
Any idea whereabouts in NY sheâs from originally?
rochester/wayland NY area.
Was the giant paint named Twist, by chance? I took a few dressage lessons on him.
And last year, I was supposed to lease a horse of hers (Irish draught cross) named Finn, but she found a buyer for him and that was that. I think I took a total of maybe 4 or 5 lessons with her before I stopped. Something always felt kind of off with her, between being a judge, a vet, a photographer, etc. Then my primary trainer ran into her a few times with the local CT group and she had her doubts as well.
(And Windy Willow, I was the one in the Jeep who took a lesson on one of your guys once with her, in the southern part of the county 
)
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Oh yes I remember, it was not too long after that alot of us started getting very suspicious of her. BUT there were some that were following her to the moon and back which I never understood.They know nowâŠafter they were used and lied to.Shes pretty much history now as far as ever selling horses we hope and we still want to spread the word.Theres no boundaries for her.We still have alot of people all over US
to reach, so donât quit sharing!
