Ladies & Gentlemen,
Bill Knell is a life long fraud, liar, charlatan and huckster--he is pathological! He uses the internet as his tool of choice to victimize his marks. Moreover, this is a "family business."
For the ignorant reading this thread, this isn't an example of someone who's "strayed" from the righteous path once or twice--this guy is a small time crook who's been at it for decades. When things get too hot, he relocates and reinvents himself--as he's done now!
When this came to light (for me), it started with the plagiarism of Angelia Joiner's article that we published at
The UFO Chronicles (last November). Being ignorant to his criminal behavior, I offered him a simple remedy which he chose to ignore, instead offering up a number of lies.
That set in motion an investigation on my part, which quite frankly "blew my mind!" Not only were most of the claims made by Knell complete flapdoodle, I discovered he was pirating dozens of DVDs . . . most of his victims by the way are still unaware of the crimes against them, which I intend to remedy. Some of the victims I did notify e.g., James Fox, Linda Howe, (who sued him successfully 10 years earlier for the exact same thing), Scott Ramsey, Paul Kimball (contacted by Ramsey), John Greenewald, Nicole Irvine (UFO Congress), Tim Crawford (UFO TV), and the list goes on. Then of course you have the victims on the other side, the ones buying fraudulent low quality DVDs, and that, only when they get the fraudulent goods they paid for, as Knell has a habit of not delivering what people buy (part of his MO), regardless of whatever scam he's operating at the time, e.g., the dog business etc.
This guy has had dozens of web-sites, (still has a few as we speak) hawking his various snake oils and most have been shut down because of complaints; he has no problem with plagiarizing someone's written work, or pirating someone's "visual work"; being in trouble with the law is "just the cost of doing business" as his recent actions indicate; he's currently under investigation, (in at least two states) and still has the balls (or stupidity) to conduct business as usual!
This guy has been operating with impunity, and I would argue that it affects all of us that involve ourselves (in a significant way) in this phenomenon we call Ufology; we have enough battles before us, without injecting criminal behavior into the mix.
What ever summation you're getting from what I've written here, bear in mind that it's only the "tip of the ice-berg!" His crimes are far more numerous; the evidence is overwhelming; his activities are repetitive and ongoing for decades; his victims are in the 100's (at least); he will do or say anything to appease a victim, or get out of a jam with the authorities. He has no conscious, and malice is indeed present.
Some of his potential crimes are as follows:
(1) Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Copyright Infringement and to Traffic in Counterfeit Goods and Labels, in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 371;
(2) Criminal Copyright Infringement and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of 17 U.S.C. ' 506(a)(1)(A), and 18 U.S.C. '' 2319(b)(1) and 2;
(3) Trafficking in Counterfeit Labels and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. '' 2318(a), 2318(c)(3), and 2;
(4) Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods and Aiding and Abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. '' 2320(a) and 2; and
(5) Counterfeiting a Department Seal (the FBI anti-piracy seal used on pirated music CDs), in violation of 18 U.S.C. ' 506(a)(1).
This doesn't get into mail fraud, Interstate transportation of stolen property, plagiarism, conspiracy or writing bad checks for customer refunds.
I urge any victims of Bill Knell to lend your voice with the growing list and contact:
Captain Detective Maurice Hobson
Lebanon Police Department
210 East Main St.
Lebanon, In. 46052
765-482-8836 Phone
765-482-8837 Fax
Also you can file complaints at the
FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center
Complaints can be lodged with the host (Bravenet) here:
http://www.bravenet.com/global/abuse.php
At present, in my view the "victims of Bill Knell" and their collected efforts have done more in preventing this crook to further use the Internet to continue his nefarious ways, then the authorities (at the moment anyway).
Same can be said for Gene & David in exposing him here at the Paracast--
"knowledge is indeed power" and the very methodology he uses (the internet) to victimize people, can be used to stop him!
Cheers,
Frank
