Owners of Inkedfur, Exotic Erotics, and Party Animals West finally accountable for abuse, but a deeper problem remains

Owners of 3 businesses capitalized on fandom despite years of complaints. Now they face consequences for contributing to the abuse of children and animals:

• (1) Inkedfur owner arrested. Inkedfur is a printing service used by popular furry adult artists since 2014. The owner Sangie had a sex crime conviction in the 2000’s, and kept raising allegations of shady business and pedophilia while dealing at conventions that disregarded his record. He was recently arrested again as part of an FBI operation against child sex abuse. The arrest was in May 2025, but it doesn’t seem to have reached community notice yet.
• (2) Exotic Erotics rejected. Exotic Erotics sells sex toys, including “life cast” toys made by manipulating real animals’ genitalia. This pushed the adult market deep into murky ethics, but they kept being welcome next to regular dealers at conventions from 2009 to 2025. It’s never too late to stop ignoring things, and their inclusion at Midwest Furfest 2025 raised a storm of protest on social media before the con parted ways with them.
• (3) Party Animals West owner convicted. Party Animals West (PAW) rented clubs for parties attended by hundreds, with a group of 1000 supporters. The owner Frisky was reported to police for CSAM possession years ago when his parties were based in Las Vegas, with no results. He got away from the allegations by relocating and resuming operation in the San Francisco Bay area, until he was arrested for new child abuse in 2024. Other group runners allowed the child victim inside after being warned of risk and overruling it; and a fellow group runner was arrested for the same crimes. Associates tried to bury it, but Frisky was just convicted in late 2025.

This story updates previous Dogpatch Press reporting about abuse by the owners of Inkedfur and Party Animals West. Despite known histories, they prospered while continuing to do things they were accused of for many years. The time it took for consequences goes to show that legal action isn’t a solution by itself, especially when abusers keep influence and favor in the community. Delaying makes more victims while waiting for outsiders to do something — if they ever do anything at all — and shows a deeper problem to change inside.

The furry community likes to take pride in being built by and for each other. If we aren’t lying to ourselves by burying abuse while predators prosper, we can scrutinize who is in power and use more discretion about who gets support. Not just on social media, or at one weekend conventions, but in real life all the time.

It’s all wrapped up after the first 3 sections with part 4: Cronies Against Accountability.

(1) Inkedfur owner James Christopher Hoyt (“Sangie Nativus”) arrested for child sex crime again

When Inkedfur was founded in 2014, its owner Sangie had a murky history. He publicly admitted being convicted for a 2008 child sex offense, but got it expunged. This made records hard to come by, while Sangie posted self-serving stories about court bias and lied that he was tricked about his victim’s age. It worked enough to at least distract critics who couldn’t verify why records were expunged. Meanwhile, he would threaten conventions with legal action if they rejected his business, and covered himself more by throwing other abusers under the bus.

One abuser who Sangie leaked on was his good friend Levi “Snakething” Simmons, a ringleader in the 2018 Zoosadist Leaks. It’s incomprehensible to read Sangie’s private interaction with Simmons — who set up his minor nephew as prey for tag-team grooming — and wonder how Sangie wasn’t arrested for it. Legal documents reference Sangie involved in planning crimes that put Simmons in jail for 25 years. This got Sangie’s grooming featured in a 15,000-word Dogpatch Press report about the Zoosadist Leaks, which took intense effort to publish against backlash in 2019. Attacking sources is very helpful to manipulators like Sangie, while some people trying to get him reported would also attack for not getting instant results during active investigation, helping him even more!

This explains how Sangie delayed notice… but not how conventions chose a shady dealer like Inkedfur in their selection process. Reporting about him came and went while he kept profiting from porn by popular furry artists. Inkedfur even sponsored a popular fandom lawyer’s blog (later reconsidered.) However, even as a normal businessman, Sangie couldn’t keep out of controversy. Allegations rose about cheating, like selling prints by artists who cut ties, with excuses about clearing old stock when it was print-on-demand, and failing to pay royalties. Social media threads document allegations against Sangie for business cheating and pedophilia, including grooming new victims during Inkedfur operation.

In 2025, Sangie’s luck ran out. Read about his bust: Justice Department Announces Results of Operation Restore Justice: 205 Child Sex Abuse Offenders Arrested in FBI-led Nationwide Crackdown, Including 5 in the Western District of Texas. “James Christopher Hoyt in Austin charged with distribution of material involved the sexual exploitation of children.”

Legal docs of the case say Sangie was living in a mobile home, outside a property with internet provided by another subscriber, but he used his personal device to download and distribute CSAM… 170,000 images of it. On one pedophile forum he created a thread for “furry boys” with costume parts on nude children between ages 2 and 10. When interviewed, he admitted having sexual relations with multiple minors up through 2018. He has appealed for release on medical grounds of having cancer (did this start with the worst possible YOLO move in history?) The court denied his release due to:

“the combination of his prior criminal conduct with the vast collection of child pornography and his continued involvement in the distribution of child pornography with others…” and “the danger he poses to the community and the risk that he will reoffend if given access to the internet or contact with vulnerable populations.”

Legal docs also mention bestiality in Sangie’s collection, a common overlap of abuse on vulnerable victims who can’t consent.

(2) Exotic Erotics rejected from Midwest Furfest — “Zoo Positive” business was welcome at cons for many years

Exotic Erotics is an adult toy company that sells fantasy animal dildos, similar to the higher-profile Bad Dragon, but with a more specific niche. Instead of sculpting from imagination, they make toys by manipulating and molding real dog and horse genitalia. Critics say lifecasting is real-life abuse. A guest tells Dogpatch Press: “If this were life-casting off a human child, this would be national headlines kinda bad”.

Here’s a guest-submitted look at the controversy:

When you think of zoophiles, and horrible things they do to animals, here’s one that not many people talk about. The company Exotic Erotics was founded in 2009, and is based somewhere in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Most of their toys are sculpted or 3D printed like adult novelties are normally made, but Exotic Erotics also bases them on molds of the genitalia of live animals. They are very open about putting lifecast toys on their front page.

Before Bad Dragon existed, its CEO Varka had discussed the concept on the now defunct site “Herpy.net”. On December 7, 2007, Varka posted about starting an adult toy business, and wanting to get his hands on live animals to create lifecasts of their genitalia. Varka ditched that idea in favor of hand-sculpting, but is that where it started? The founding of these two companies were very close to each other. Bad Dragon was founded in 2008 and Exotic Erotics in 2009. Both have stayed in business since then. You’d think that Exotic Erotics’ actions would spark serious controversy and trouble, and complaints have circulated before, but not effectively. From 2009 to 2025, they remained eligible to be selected to vend at large furry cons (15 years at Midwest Furfest).

How does Exotic Erotics deflect complaints? They claim “lifecasting is incredibly similar to the methods at breeders all over the world”, and the animals “are happy to help” and “into the process”. Something tells me that dogs and horses are not into being restrained and having their privates forced into a mold. Exotic Erotics compares it to semen collection; but doing this isn’t necessary for animals to exist, and I don’t think veterinarians and breeders go out of their way to sexually gratify people that way. Another thing to note is that abusers love making excuses to cover up their true intentions or blame their victims. It’s a big case of “trust me bro” when there’s no regulation or explanation from anyone but humans who gratify and profit themselves this way. We’re taking the word of a sex toy company. They could sculpt toys without doing this; nothing about it shows caring for animals. (- guest “Shadow Roach”)

• Exotic Erotics selected to vend at Furry Weekend Atlanta
• Exotic Erotics selected to vend at Midwest Furfest
• Bad Dragon is also “swimming in zoophiles” (comparing this to “just fantasy” doesn’t imply good alternatives.)

Exotic Erotics justifies their sales by claiming they quit using the method earlier, and they used 3D-scanning, or it’s just as bad as other things done to animals. It’s already dubious to trust salesmen who keep profiting from original exploitation, but there’s more. Their business is opaque, but critics are making the connection to courting a zoophile base. Exotic Erotics can deny knowing (wink) — but that’s just a technical hair-split away from making community for abusers, and technicality is no protection for victims who can’t tell. Take it from a group of 911 zoophiles who rate them as “zoo positive”:

That’s one underground group of many, where nearly 1000 zoophiles are networking with each other in a way that would scarcely be possible in real life, and they see enabling to go aboveground with Exotic Erotics.

There’s still a “show your work” challenge to identify zoophile networking inside Exotic Erotics, so here’s one of their employees spreading standard zoo-propaganda about consent. The Laelaps anti-zoophile labeler collected these statements as evidence for a zoophile supporter label.

With this background, Exotic Erotics selection for Midwest Furfest 2025 raised a storm of protest on social media. Some problems with that…

• It can risk raising attention that helps Exotic Erotics sell more toys. They boasted about their Black Friday sales and made claims about restocking (below).
• Cons can get sued for breach of contract for canceling a vendor. If you want lasting change inside, with staff on your side, a con organizer told Dogpatch Press: persuade them to use discretion for the selection process next year, using calm direct communication, like stakeholders emailing together, instead of threats or social media callouts. That’s how to affect the other 49 weekends of the year.

Protesters did see a change, at least for now. Exotic Erotics says they stayed home for safety from threats, and Midwest Furfest will revisit the dealer process.

[Opinion about strategy] Exotic Erotics is one small company of many, and certain people will keep thinking “lifecasting sounds good to me”. Remember:

• Arguing can raise attention and sales, but you can say consent isn’t debatable.
• Toys aren’t essential to make animals exist like vet or breeder practices do, and boycott is using the free market too.
• Communities can decide standards without having anything to do with government censorship (or “kink shaming.”)
• Zoophiles don’t deserve neutrality to use our spaces any more than churches need to assume they’ll always have pedophiles within.
• For many years they enjoyed “technically legal” acceptance and weak discretion. At this point in time, we have organized NAMBLA-like groups taking advantage of internet platforms to grow, then ride the coattails of our conventions and money into real life, so the only line left is us.
• If you don’t want to be doormats, it can start with drawing a line about organized money-making support. It doesn’t prevent them from existing, but puts values on whether organized zoophiles are more entitled to community than victims are entitled to protection from them.

Ponder the awkwardness that was averted, because an update to the Midwest Furfest security policy also now requires you to carry things in clear backpacks.

(3) Convictions of Party Animals West owner Steven “Frisky” Darling and Leonardo “Naughty Kitty” Medina — they had access to victim after warnings

Background from 2024: Bad leadership surrounds sex crime case with Party Animals West (PAW) owner in San Francisco. Deeper details here are sourced from chat logs, numerous source interviews, legal docs, and police who agreed to speak.

In 2017, Steven “Frisky” Darling was reported to police in Las Vegas for possessing CSAM. Nothing came of it while Darling moved his PAW events to San Francisco. The parties rented large, mainstream clubs, were attended by hundreds of furries, and ran with a volunteer crew. They grew influence and support under Darling’s ownership, like a Telegram group of 1000 members managed by his crew. A source inside alludes to Darling using manipulation to keep tight control, and receiving large amounts of money. (Drugs are a topic for another story…)

A problem started independently in 2023, when San Francisco bay area furry groups circulated bewares about a 14 year old member who was posing as an adult to get into adult spaces, and sexting adults. It caused great distress to those who found out the true age and high danger. Some group runners removed the 14 year old for being a risk to self and others. A few refused.

One who would not fully remove the child was San Rafael CA-based veterinarian Mark “Zarafa” Willett. Willett runs a monthly Berkeley furmeet, and a group named North Bay Furs. Willett, who is in his 60’s, stated that he stood by accommodating a risky 14 year old because the child was “desperate for social connection”. A 60-something gave a child’s desperation priority over everyone’s risk, which of course, meant keeping the elder’s own following instead of directing the child to activities with other children. There’s quite a lot more reason to deeply question this adult’s influence, when many people a third his age could tell this would lead to trouble.

Meanwhile, a nearby group was run by Leonardo “Naughty Kitty” Medina, named Northbay area Fur-meets (not the same as Willett’s North Bay Furs). Medina also grew influence with events, despite one of his admins quitting because of seeing tolerance for creepy behavior with minors there. Chat logs show Willett advised Medina about naming the group, and called it “sort of a duplicate of the one we run” (more on this below). Willett’s own management also put Medina in North Bay Furs and enabled access to a 14 year old.

It’s not clear how Medina came to know Darling, but over a year, they had plenty of time to take advantage of influence until their coinciding arrests in 2024. Legal docs show they were abusing a 14 year old.

NEWS: In November 2025, Darling’s plea of no contest/guilty led to his conviction and sex offender registration. Sources believe his jail time will be 2 years. Medina gave the same plea.

How many others were involved? At the time of Medina’s arrest, his partner and co-organizer disappeared with no info about if he was involved, was a witness, or simply quit a broken scene. The convictions also don’t cover all of the activity. A police officer in Darling’s case told Dogpatch Press that Darling wasn’t just doing child abuse, he was also involved in bestiality. Tips are welcome if you have more information.

(4) Cronies against accountability

Look back at prior reporting of how Darling’s crew tried to cover up his arrest in 2024 to keep the parties going. Then let’s look at an even deeper pattern.

Back in 2018, one of the people who became Darling’s crew, Tyler “Leko” Mark, tried to stop Dogpatch Press reporting about a predator boyfriend (“Tane”). Leko asked for coverup, and after it was denied, then asked his friend Mark “Zarafa” Willett for dox to use for threats. Willett negligently gave out the dox, and later explained that he doxed someone under his group leadership because Leko was his friend. The resulting threats didn’t stop reporting about abusers getting favor at conventions. Leko went on to enable the same predator boyfriend inside staff of Las Vegas Fur Con. When news broke of Darling’s arrest, Leko also tried but failed to keep Darling’s PAW parties partnered with Las Vegas Fur Con. LVFC ended relations with PAW, but Leko remains staff and enabler at many cons.

Willett was directly questioned about enabling a 14-year-old after being warned of risk. He was also questioned about a pattern with people involved in abusive activity who he brought into the community, befriended, defended, or protected — without screening very obvious red flags — and doing whatever he possibly could to deny evidence pointed out to him. This was one friend he went out of his way to defend, with confrontation Willett started himself, ignoring multiple reports of groping by that friend, and putting the risk on group members to watch their own back.

A private file collects Willett’s responses full of selective memory, semantic word games, claims of ignorance, refusal to answer, shifting blame, and playing helpless victim, as the one with power for decisions he made himself while blaming anyone but himself. Willett’s excuse for keeping the 14 year old was shifting responsibility to the parent, who he did nothing to screen, which apparently was enough to disregard the rest of the community and all the distress they suffered.

No furry group runner has openly addressed how risk warnings were overruled, before two fellow group runners used their influence to prey on a child member. There’s no apology, promise to do better, or admitting that negligence does harm. That’s nothing surprising to some sources who have tried to engage Willett about past cases of dangerous people in the community.

One former runner of a defunct group, who backed away from furry fandom over this, spoke about experiences with Willett’s unsavory influence and intentions for founding his North Bay Furs group.

Willet founded North Bay Furs with a “no shaming” rule, because of growing bitter at the management of the previous local group for holding pedophiles accountable, says the source. (Around 2018 Willett said the same directly to Dogpatch Press.)

That defunct group runner recalled Willett as “oddly defensive” about the topic, said Willett refused to condemn or address it, misused his influence to undermine people that held people accountable, and called accountability “toxic”.

Willett’s group is only joined by direct private invite. With the founding reason of the group making a bubble of toxic positivity, where “offensive” criticism gets removed, fake neutrality is more selective than it would be to reduce extreme tolerance given to problem friends as if nothing can be done. How ironic that the pedo-shame that irked Willett so much came true in the place he made to shirk it.

After the arrest of Medina, Willett went into Medina’s now-leaderless group, labeling it a “duplicate” while directing members to join his North Bay Furs. Gaining followers that way is convenient, when it became leaderless at the cost of an abused child, after Willett’s decision of acceptable risk. Here’s a case to remember if we want to know how negligent leadership falls upwards.

The pattern in this story isn’t just with a few abusers who were caught. It’s also the influence of cronies and enablers who have been at it for too long, a type we keep having to beware, making a minefield for trusting anyone at all. Their bubbles are full of a cultishly dogmatic attitude that their critics are enemies, while they’re trying to boost the fandom by keeping the parties going, stopping negative image, welcoming everyone, and keeping everything cuddly and bright. The uncomfortable truth is that they’re selfishly protecting their own comfort, no matter who gets hurt and how they have to deny it.

For many who are frustrated about this, protest brings something more positive than toxic positivity: catharsis.

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Original post written by Patch O’Furr