“IBW Photographer” Faces Unrelated Charges

“IBW Photographer” Faces Unrelated Charges – UPDATED

The Ames Tribune carried a breaking story this week, which may have a direct impact on the most recent chapter in the claims of Daniel Rainsong regarding the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

Daniel D. Rainsong’s alleged Ivory-Billed Woodpecker photographs are not mentioned in the article from Ames, but the implications are apparent.

It will be recalled that after the initial curiosity of Mr. Rainsong’s claims, his earlier craigslist ad was located by the Twin Cities Naturalist. It said, in part:

$10,000.00 Reward – Wildlife Research Expedition in Texas
Photographer and Travel Assistant Needed (December 21 thru January 3, 2010)

Thank you for your inquiry about the expedition and this “Photographer and Travel Assistant” job offer.

My name is Daniel Rainsong. The first thing I need to tell you about this job is that the assignment goes from December 21, 2009 until January 3, 2010. So as you can see it covers over the Christmas and the New Years. If you cannot commit to the forgoing conditions (missing the holidays and being in Texas) this position may not be for you.

This time of year with a lot of leaves off the tree canopy there in Texas makes it an ideal time to see them and capture their pictures…[section missing]…nesting season; being more noisy (vocal) being easier to locate.

Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa holds the $10000.00 reward poster for this expedition and Dr. John M. Burnett, Department of Natural Resources, 124 Science II…

The blog “Living the Scientific Life: Scientist, Interrupted” raises questions of grave concern about Rainsong by noting that:

…some so-called birders, such as landscaper and gambler Daniel Rainsong, who claims to have photographed the bird, resort to harassment to assert their claims to this $50,000 prize. According to the current kerfuffle on the intert00bz, Rainsong apparently refuses to allow anyone to see his December 2009 photographs of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker until his “right of claim” (huh?) for this discovery is established (huh??). But despite the self-imposed veil of secrecy surrounding his supposed photographs, Rainsong is allegedly harassing professional ornithologists by filing “formal complaints” against them because (he claims) they refuse to accompany him on an extended search in the Sabine River basin in east Texas to “prove” the validity of his photograph(s). Which he won’t permit them to examine.

This new story (about another $10,000?) will raise questions about his IBW claims, unless he now releases the photographs in a timely matter, without fiscal demands.

Police said an Ames man stole more than $10,000 from his dependant mother’s savings after obtaining power of attorney over her.

Daniel D. Rainsong, 53, of 1916 Ferndale Ave., reportedly told police that his mother was investing in his lawn care company, “New Lawns,” and used her savings to pay for his own expenses rather than for her care.

Police said Rainsong’s mother is a dependent adult and legally unable to make the decision to invest in her son’s lawncare business.

According to court documents, Rainsong took power of attorney from his mother on Nov. 21, 2008, and within weeks drained her financial resources. The amount was stated at more than $10,000.

Rainsong also faces charges of theft for fraudulently using a blank personal check left with him by his father-in-law. According to court documents, the check was given to Rainsong to pay his mother’s medical and pharmacy bills, a cost which Rainsong allegedly said would have been less than $3,000.

After obtaining power of attorney over his mother, Rainsong wrote out the personal check for $15,000 and deposited it in his mother’s account, which he then accessed to pay for his own expenses.

Rainsong faces two counts of first-degree theft, a class C felony, and one count of dependent adult abuse, a class D felony.

A preliminary hearing has been set in the case for Tuesday, Feb. 23, in Nevada.

Source: Ames man faces charges of stealing from mother by Luke Jennett, Ames Tribune, Ames, Iowa; Thursday, February 18, 2010.

Thanks to Virtual Sailing for this news tip.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

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