Sherman Deach Sherm horse sale scam shady horse dealer scammer horse dumped contract broken Roy, Washington

A Beware Story:
Sherman Deach dropped off a horse for me to take on 2 week trial, with a written contract for a money back guarantee if I did not want the horse. I paid him fully in cash for the horse upon arrival (my mistake) I called him after only one week, and let him know early we did not want his horse, and please come pick him up and refund our payment per our contract.  
He said ok, but first, he claimed he was in Ellensberg helping friends that were fire victims and could he come pick up the horse the following week.  I said ok.  Then he says his truck broke down on the way home and can he have a few more days to come get his horse.  I said ok.  Then he says his mother died and can he have over the next weekend for her funeral. (called crying even) I said ok, your horse is fine, take care of your family, let me know asap when you can get him. Then he says he is waiting on a lawsuit check to come into his lawyers to cash.  Then he says he has another lady to buy the horse who he is meeting up with and they will be to my place by 4:30 to pay me and take the horse. He says the lady never showed up to meet him. Then he says he is trying to extend his line of credit to get me the money.  Finally he says this Friday that he got the money from his brother- I say lets meet Sunday afternoon/evening. He says ok.  I call all Sunday afternoon/evening with no response.  I call Monday saying let me know a time when you can meet me, I really need you to come pick your horse up or I will need to start charging you a daily rate for boarding at this point- as we have been caring for your horse for weeks & weeks now, please come get him.  He leaves me a message saying I can't believe you would charge me board- (amazing that someone would maybe consider paying for the care their horse is receiving from someone else, right?!) check your contract, you bought him he's yours, don't contact me now, talk to my lawyer if you want to take it there.  He will not answer his phone.  I believed all his sob stories, and tale after tale from this shady horse dealer about why he couldn't pick up his horse, until he finally dumped him, and kept my money.

I am so sad, I can't believe how shady people can be.  Of course I realize I was scammed now- I realize it's my fault for trusting in a signed contract and someone's honest word that was completely dishonest.  I can't believe someone would use the eastern Washington fire victims and their own mother's death to scam people, but I guess that really speaks to Sherman Deach's character.  We are a young family- and we are now stuck with Sherman Deach's horse to care for who we know very little about, (and can't be sure anything that he said about this horse was true or honest, which seems highly unlikely) and Sherman has scammed our money and our good faith in honest dealing and in the horse community.
I want to warn people not to do business with Sherm, aka Sherman Deach of Roy, WA.  He has several complaints filed against him on www.ripoffreport.com (which of course I found after the fact) for dishonesty, stealing, misrepresentation, scamming, shady horse deals.  Please protect yourself better than I did.

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