Lanier, Do You Know The Guide Who Just Got Arrested For Fraud on Lanier?

That mugshot:

Forsyth County's finest

Yea, I know him. Not like we are friends or something but I know him.

Shane has always been a snake oil salesman. He and I run our guide services very differently. He has always been there to try and sale his customers something. I on the other hand, barely try and talk about my Bait Business since I already have you on the trip which was the main goal.

From what I have read, he was scamming people by offering them boats through Carolina Skiff if they pay big downpayments up front. Some were promised boats in 6 months, some in a year. Looks like they were giving him anywhere from 5K to 50K for down payments. Never to deliver one boat or give anyone their money back. He wrote a few people checks to refund the money but it appears they all bounced

He was also caught up in some kind of investment deal with them as he was getting money from them and never investing it or giving it back.

Today I saw where he was scheming last year with a big "Make A Wish" event where he was getting big sponsor bucks from people / businesses and supposedly buying a wrapped boat to take underprivileged kids out on it. He told businesses he was connected to lots of big sponsors but none of that was true.

It appears him wife and brother were also involved and all of them are going to jail for this which is exactly what should happen.

He had some other instances of fraud/thievery years ago that got swept under the rug. Looks bad on the guys who do this for a living and do it honestly.

Lanier has top notch baits fwiw...

Having owned many boats, including 4 currently, all boat sellers should be taken to task for selling snake oil! Fake boats are barely worse than the real thing!

If I went on one of your tours could you tell me the story of how we beat the Germans and Kaiser Permanente in WWI

quote:

---

You don't think about a fishing guide being a real scum bag con artist but that guy certainly fits the bill. The Make A Wish scam he was running is particularly sleazy.

---

yea, I agree. He also used boat and motor sponsors as well as local stores to draw people into the scam. None of them however were involved or even knew about the make a wish thing.

I guess for me, I dont understand how he managed to get that kind of cash out of people without having some kind of agreement in writing. All the people who gave him money said they did it without any contract.

You are going to have to be a very slick dude to get 40K of my hard earned bucks out of me without something solid that I will check in to. One guy gave him 80K for the investment deal.

Shane was the guy that you would call for a guide trip at the worst time of the year and ask how the fishing was and he would swear they were chomping and guarantee you a 50 fish day. Then you would never see a bite and he would call the trip on the second his time was up. Just a very different direction than I took over 20 years ago when I started full time

I am interested in taking one of your water tours, how can I find out more?

DirtyDawg and I can split the cost, are you cool if we bring some sonic food aboard your ship?

You're good people Lanier.