Judge bars man from fish industry

State said he defied 2010 orders

JOHN LYNCH
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE


A 62-year-old Hot Springs man under court order to pay $62,000 in fines and restitution for running a fraudulent fish-stocking business was barred Tuesday from any further work in the fish supply industry.
Rex Allen Curtis could go to jail for contempt of court if he defies Tuesday’s ruling by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza.
“You’re an articulate and smart man. You can find something else to do,” Piazza told Curtis, who appeared with his attorney Justin Hurst at a hearing on how to punish the man over complaints Curtis had resumed the scam in defiance of the judge’s March 2010 order.
Piazza also gave Curtis six months — so he could take up another line of work — to make arrangements to pay the money to the Arkansas attorney general’s office: $40,000 for violations of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and $22,535 to 32 victims in three states. Curtis was ordered to pay the $62,535 in March 2010.
The attorney general’s office won the 2010 judgment after suing Curtis and the companies he purportedly operated in 2009, Arkansas Fish Hatchery Express, Delta Supreme Fish Farm and Arkla-Texoma Fish Hatchery.
Piazza said he considered sending Curtis to jail on Tuesday over the “egregious violations” he heard testimony about at a July contempt hearing. Curtis has denied wrongdoing, saying he was only an employee of the company, Southern Star Trophy Fish Stockers LLC, which state attorneys maintain is operated by Curtis’ daughter, Michelle “Shelly” Sirmon. Southern Star lists the same Hot Springs address, 1424 Airport Road, as other fish-supply companies to which Curtis has been connected, court records show.
The Hot Springs-based company offered largemouth black bass, bluegill and channel catfish for as low as 9 cents apiece, according to court filings. Some of the company’s advertising included the promise that customers could qualify to receive free additional fish with their purchases.
The attorney general’s office reported five complaints had been filed with regulators over the Southern Star company and another business purportedly run by Curtis, First Southern Aquaculture, in the months after the judgment was imposed.
Complainants include a Texas man who reported paying Curtis $1,600 for fish he never received and Ouachita Technical College in Malvern, which paid $927 but didn’t receive all the fish it had ordered. Many of the fish it did receive were sick and dying, court filings show. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reported receiving “hundreds” of complaints against Curtis over several years, and that he has falsely claimed to own a fish hatchery and to be licensed by the state to sell fish.
In 1989, Curtis, who has served prison time for hot checks and fraud convictions, was sued by the attorney general. A Pulaski County circuit judge subsequently barred Curtis, who was operating as Millcreek Farms and Curtis Fish Farms, from selling catfish again and ordered him to forfeit $5,000.

I'll believe it when I see it.

A friend of my ex wife had their trucking company bankrupted by their accountant. The State filed a huge lein and judgement against her, but she put all of her assets in her daughters name. Joe and Betty had to sell everything, and Joe had to go back driving semi to live, and they bounced around from apartment to apartment while the accountant stayed comfortably "working" for her daughter.

There's times when there ain't no justice.

Let's hope this keeps the guy out of the business for good.

Court orders haven't seemed to stop him before.

Only when he is incarcerated will he stop his fraudulent practices. Its not like he was a decent guy and got desparate and made a bad decision. It appears that his prior history documents his continuous bad decisions. These type of people won't stop until they are physically/geographicly unable to deceive people.

Yeah, it's funny how the judge credits the guy with being articulate and smart. He left out morally corrupt and fatally misguided.

When I talked to him on the phone I found him to be anything but articulate. I found him to be obscene, threatening and generally a low life. He is also a coward. He made some physical threats but was not willing to set a time and date to make good.

Amazing! It's crazy that crooks like him usually work just as hard at being dishonest as they would have to work running an honest business and putting in an honest days work to earn an honest living. Bob- thanks for spreading the word.

I am confused. Why would he stop being a criminal if they keep letting him go?

As one of two people who was willing to testify in court, I was amazed at what happened. I was also amazed at how many people complained about him to the Attorney General's office and the BBB of Arkansas but did not take the time to show up in court and testify against him. It made the judges work harder. If the two of us did not travel from Texas to the court house in Little Rock and testify, he might not have gotten any new punishment at all. I am not looking for any praise, I am just passing on the information. I do expect Mr Curtis to continue to defy the court and I hope and pray that the court has the information and testimony in court to up the punishment.

The best thing I know about guys like him is that with sites like this, the real truth about people like him will get out.

You bring up a good point flyer. People are quick to start a police report and complain, but when it comes time to follow through, they seldom are still motivated to do something abouit the very problem they complained about.

The PA State Police up near my pond told me their greatest problem was getting the victims to come and testify.

Thanks Brian

This is not over, Texas Fish and Game is after the license he is using, and the Texas AG should also be after him for the Fraud he has committed against Texans. It is a slow process, but I am committed to justice. In short, he will not take advantage of people again if I have anything to say about it. But it would be nice if I had a little help...

Okay folks....who has been scammed by this guy in Texas?

He almost got me. At the time, I knew nothing. The pond was finished and there was water in the hole. And, I was in the hospital. My Brother saw the free fish ad and I told him to go for it. So, he got on the phone and cut a deal for fish and fertilizer. Neither of us had any idea about proper stocking rates. The story was that he owned a fish farm in Arkansas and was mad at the fish trucks that were ripping pondowners off. He was trying to do the right thing to make amends for the good of the industry. When the $ was revealed I got suspicious. Free, my eye! I contacted the TPWD and, as usual, I got nowhere but they did give the # of Bill Wingo. I called Bill and we discussed the stocking rates. Curtis was going to stock about 3 to 4 times as much as was correct. Bill also told me that fertilizer wouldn't work in February.

I called Curtis on his cell phone and canceled. He threatened me with a butt whupping and told me that he was going to dump the whole truck load of fish at my front gate. When I questioned him about just when he was going to dump the fish, he told me that he was going to make that a surprise. When I tried to make an appointment for the butt whuppin, he got evasive and told me he would call when he was in the area. I'm still waiting on that call. During the phone call he called me a no good SOB and several other choice words. Later I found out about his past. Over the years I saw several of his Free Fish ads in the Fort Worth Star Telegram newspaper. I called several times and told them he was a crook but they kept running the ads.

Bob, I never got my fertilizer nether did one of the guys that I was working with. And after Mr. Curtis would not return my emails and phone calls about our Fertilizer, I did a lot of further investigation and figured out that I did not get all the catfish I paid for as well. There is one bright spot though, I did find this site and I think the trade off will be way better for me in the long run.

I was working with four other Texans for fish so I am working on their behalf. I don't know if they want their names out in the public, so I will not post them without permission, but I know they will work with the Texas AG to hold Mr Curtis accountable.

If anyone else who has taken advantage of wants to cooperate please send PM's as Bob would like. I have been letting Bob know what was going on all summer.

The Texas Adjutant General's website is:

Texas AG Website

Then go to the fraud section and report the fraud.

My money is on DD...I'd love to see this go down.

Agree w/TJ - Guv takes fishman down fastest than Tyson destroyed Spinks!!!

Guys, two girl scouts could take this guy, he is all mouth, but that is not the point. The point is that he takes advantage of older folks that get a new pond and know nothing about how they should properly stock a pond or how to fertilize properly. It has been proven that he is unprofessional and should be out of the business.

It's not just older folks. I've had questions about him for years. And, I've seen his ads in the Fort Worth Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News.