St. Louis Pet Expo Canceled, Organizer Denies Allegations Of Fraud

ST. CHARLES, MO — Some vendors are accusing Sheila and Bryan Rilenge, the organizers of Amazing Pet Expos, of fraud after the St. Louis Pet Expo was unexpectedly canceled Thursday. Others have not yet been officially notified of the cancellation and are waiting to see what happens next before asking for a refund. Amazing Pet Expos denies the allegations, offering an impassioned rebuttal and an explanation in a statement on their website.

Previously scheduled for next weekend, Oct. 28 and 29, the last-minute cancellation appears to be part of a trend for the company, one that played out in Chicago and Portland earlier this year.

Some St. Louis-area vendors received emails as late as last week insisting the expo would be held as scheduled at the St. Charles Convention Center. "The St. Louis Pet Expo is our home town and our longest-running event," one email read. "The individuals who are creating interference with our agreements in other markets have no ground to stand on regarding our agreements in St. Louis — this event is moving forward as planned."

That wasn't the case. "The Pet Expo...has been cancelled due to Amazing Pet Expos' unmet contractual obligations," said Tim Buckman, a spokesman for the convention center. "Exhibitors and sponsors should contact the show organizers directly with any questions or concerns."

APE denies that characterization. The company insists its lawyers are working to get the event reinstated, and that it is trying to secure an alternate venue. But with multiple vendors, non-profits and convention centers reporting missed payments or bounced checks, that may be difficult.

The company blames a targeted harassment campaign by one former employee and a handful of disgruntled vendors for a series of compounding financial difficulties. "Due to our rapid growth, our longtime bookkeeper...became entirely overwhelmed by the workload," the company said. "As we grew, her ability to handle the tremendous amount of paperwork, permits, invoices, bills, payroll, vendor payments, card processing and contracts simply became too much."

The company hired a new chief accountant to perform triage. What they describe next is surreal.

[The accountant] had come to believe she was a prophet tasked with writing a new book of the Bible, was Moses reincarnated, and that the COO of our company was the anti-Christ. She had been timing all of the COO’s actions and claimed they all took place in increments of six seconds, six minutes, six hours, etc., thereby confirming he was indeed Satan. She was incredibly sickened by our LGBTQ staff members, and in the most chilling portion of the recording, stated she needed to kill the COO/Satan. She was also destroying documents and files, deleting QuickBooks accounts and backups, sending irrational emails to our vendor list...

APE provided supporting documentation, including harassing text messages and a restraining order issued against the former employee, whom Patch has been asked not to identify. A phone number listed for the woman was disconnected. Patch has reached out for her side of the story by email, but has yet to hear back.

An outpouring of sympathy on social media suggests many vendors and event-goers are ready to give the Rilenges another shot, while some remain unconvinced by the company's explanation. Others say excuses are neither here nor there when the fact remains they are still owed money — money they could be using to save animals.

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Rachel Davis is the co-founder of Lily's Pad Rescue, a Vancouver-based non-profit. She paid for a booth at the Portland Pet Expo last December, but got nervous as the event drew nearer and she wasn't getting any calls about booth selection. She called the Portland Expo Center and learned the event had never been booked.

A spokesman for the Portland Expo Center confirmed Davis' account. According to the expo center, APE had tried to book an event with them, but were denied for an outstanding bill amounting to several thousand dollars. When APE advertised an event there anyway, the Portland Expo Center sent them a cease and desist letter. After that, APE removed the expo center from their materials, but kept advertising the event without a venue.

Davis challenged the company, but a phone call with an APE representative left Davis unsatisfied. "They gave me the story about a disgruntled employee," she said. "That's all fine, but that happened earlier in the year, why was no one alerted in October that we may not have an event?"

Davis said the company offered to rebook her for another convention — one she couldn't attend — and to help facilitate an online raffle for her non-profit. Online raffles are regulated as gambling activity and are illegal in the state of Washington, so Davis declined.

Davis said she is still waiting for a $300 refund of her booth fee, and that she wants to get the word out to others before they lose money too. That mission has been complicated by a cease and desist letter she received from APE's lawyer, Stephen D. Coffin:

"I represent Amazing Pet Expos (“APE”), which you have been publicly disparaging and defaming by posting false and defamatory statements about APE in various social media. Your statements have caused substantial damage to my client’s reputation, for which damages you will be held liable. Your actions also constitute tortious interference with APE’s contractual relations with its vendors and exhibitors, again resulting in significant damages for which you will be held liable."

"...While my client has admittedly experienced significant operational problems this year that have affected its expos, APE will not tolerate having its reputation damaged by your false statements and accusations of fraudulent activity."

"I told them, 'Show me where I've made false statements and I'll retract them,'" Davis said.

Bryan Rilenge disputed Davis' account and said she that has been refunded but continues to contact reporters, using the publicity to raise money.

Sheila Rilenge provided a copy of a refund report dated Oct. 6, but Davis said she had not received the money. She also stressed that she has not earned any money from the publicity. After receiving a copy of the refund report, Davis said she spoke to the company and offered to send a photo of her account details showing no refund on Oct. 6. A representative said she would figure it out and follow up with Davis.

Other vendors and animal rescue-owners are also upset. Carole Bigwood, owner of Wild Child Pet Fashions, said she has been participating in APE's events for five years, putting on a pet fashion show to facilitate adoptions. "We haven't had issues until this year's event," she said. "I had sent out fliers and mailed out postcards advertising for the show.... I am out money I put out and thousands of profits from this event. This event was also a large source for pet food donations to our rescues. I had tons of foster dogs who were going to be in the fashion show and I had to call all the rescues and tell them their dog is not getting adopted."

Bryan Rilenge said he understands why people like Bigwood are angry. "Rescues are upset because our events are good for them. They raise a lot of money at them. They are crucial to them. Yet they are actively trying to put us out of business, and then there would be no event. We made some pretty strategically bad decisions, but I guess we thought that our show successes would mean more. It does hurt that it seems like nine years of work mean so little."

Fox 2 St. Louis reported last week the St. Louis headquarters for Amazing Pet Expo is now vacant with a ‘For Sale’ sign posted in front.

APE said there's nothing sinister to those allegations. "We moved in February," Brian Rilenge said. "The owner has had it on the market for well over a year. We had been there for 10 years. We have no idea why that was said, stated or mentioned at all. We simply moved. We had not spoken to Fox before that story was aired and they simply went to a building that has been vacant for eight months and implied we deserted it."

Rilenge said he did not want to reveal the location of his new office due to death threats the company has been receiving.

Court records reveal a more complicated story, including a consent judgement giving Token Assets Management, LLC possession of the 6421 Hampton Ave. property in May.

"We jointly agreed to move out and break the lease," Bryan Rilenge said. "Our lawyer got us out. It was amicable."

Asked to confirm that, Ed Radetic, a lawyer for Token Assets Management, said, "I have nothing to add that is not in the public record."

Missouri court records also indicate more than $690,000 in civil judgments against against Sheila and Bryan Rilenge and several companies they have done business as, including Amazing Pet Expos, AE Group, APE Productions, Brown Dog Productions, The Good News Herald, and SBQR Enterprises. The Internal Revenue Service also filed a number of federal tax liens totaling $127,470 against the Rilenges in 2015 and 2016.

"We have made headway on a lot of that debt," Bryan Rilenge said. "That debt is why we hired our new controller last year. We had been losing money, and things were compounding.... I know it seems like a big number, but when we were at our highest gross revenue, that is not an impossible number."

Sheila Rilenge said the company has worked out settlements and payment arrangements in regard to much of the litigation.

Both Sheila and Bryan Rilenge stressed the company has produced 15 successful shows this year and 178 in total, including eight at the St. Charles Convention Center, and that they are not thieves. "We are humble, and we are taking ownership of all of it," Bryan Rilenge said. "We did not produce the St. Louis show for eight years, Chicago for six, Portland for six, just to one year pull a huge scam and take off with the cash."

Going forward, he added, the company has decided to stop charging rescue organizations for space at their shows. They also plan to use a pending employee negligence insurance claim to repay vendors and non-profits. "What is lost in this is the fact that we are also passionate about rescue. We started the first show in St. Louis to benefit a rescue here."

For now, though, many vendors and rescue groups are still waiting for their money. A lot of it.