Thursday, February 18, 2010

Daniel Rainsong Arrested

Anyone still giving Daniel Rainsong the benefit of the doubt regarding his alleged sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the Sabine River bottoms of southeast Texas has got to be jumping ship now.

An article in today's Ames Tribune reports that Daniel Rainsong was arrested and charged with the theft of $10,000 from his dependent mother and with fraudulently using a blank personal check left with him by his father-in -law. Rainsong had obtained power of attorney over his mother and allegedly took only weeks to drain her bank account for his own personal expenses. The check from his father-in-law was meant to help cover his mother's medical and pharmacy bills. According to the article, Rainsong told his father-in-law the expenses would be less than $3,000. 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 February 23 in Nevada. The entire article, written by Luke Jennett, can be accessed here.

It appears the whole sorry Rainsong episode is coming to a close. Rainsong's obsession with claiming a reward for the discovery of a live Ivory-billed Woodpecker now, unfortunately, makes more sense than ever. Any shred of credibility his story might have had is as extinct as the woodpecker he sought is alleged to be.

It is too bad. Sad, really...

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