Ripley Davenport Faux Explorer
Since 2011 I have been researching the professional claims of several self-described "explorers" in order to write a story about how such explorers leverage the internet to create a commercially viable narrative about themselves.
Ripley Davenport is one of those explorers and a well documented fraud (Click for just one example). If you are at this site because you have been told that the Davenport's are victims of "cyberstalking", rest assured that is a baseless canard. He has been actively assisted and supported by his wife, Laura, in his fraudulent claims regarding his exploration exploits, his education, military service, professional career, etc. This conclusion is based on copious evidence, all of which is available on request and which can be independently confirmed.
In 2013 I collaborated with journalists at Denmark's largest newspaper, Politiken on a first story about Ripley. Since that story was published, Ripley and his wife Laura have continued to publicize fraudulent "achievements" including a: having MS, b: "Swimming" the Kenmare River and c: rescuing refugees.
The Davenports claim that they are victims of stalking simply is not supported by fact(s).
Read for yourself Ripley's lament about being cyberstalked.
Here's Ripley's tumblr account where he posted the lament.
August 2020 UPDATE: Ripley has deployed this page: http://www.ripleydavenport.com/haters-and-trolls.html . It contains old material written by Cuchullaine O'Reilly (all examined by police and dismissed as poppycock) and some new material written by Earl de Blonville. Earl even marks his work copyrighted!! Ripley, Earl and Cuchulainne are all frauds and blowhards. But more importantly, they are cowards. They hide from any actual exchange of factual material and instead just make stuff up.
February 2020 UPDATE: Ripley Davenport has created a new website, ripley-davenport.com, one hyphen different from the website that he created and has used since 2010. At his old site, the front page announces that he is going to move to the new page soon. Why would anyone go to this much trouble for what is essentially a personal vanity site? The answer is simple. The original website has been archived at the Wayback Machine but one day soon that link will change to say "excluded". The old site documents, in Ripley's own words and images, the fraudulent claims he and his wife created in order to deceive clients, sponsors, gear manufacturers, speaking agents and the press will be gone.
Ripley is going to copy Earl de Blonville, another fraud, who recently erased a half dozen of his own websites that represented his failed and fraudulent businesses. As it turns out, if you can prove you own the URL, then you can demand that the Wayback Machine (archive.org) destroy the archive of your website.
Reasonable people would agree that any and all public statements you have actively created and paid to have appear on the internet which promoted your story, your business, your accomplishments are public record. And reasonsable people would agree that intentionally destroying all those records of your claims and accomplishments is suspicious.
This is not a case of the "right to disappear" which is much discussed in cyberspace. That pertains to third party information which is wrong or damaging. In the case of Ripley and Earl, we are talking about the material that they ALONE were responsible for creating and using to further their professional interests. Numerous claims of accomplishment, awards, military services, academic degrees, etc. etc. which were written to buttress a false image are now just being erased.
Not so fast.
Actually, there are other methods for archiving all those past webpages and in the case of Earl and Ripley, that has already been done. While making stuff up about yourself is easy, erasing it is not. If you don't want your falsehoods to haunt you, don't write them.
If you hire Mr. Davenport to speak to your group, you will hear about his fantasies, not his actual adventures. Mr. Davenport claims to be a victim of both cyberstalking and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This reflects a pattern of garnering sympathy by claiming to be a victim.
More background material regarding Ripley Davenport's career is available here.
I welcome input from anyone who has factual knowledge of Ripley Davenport's expeditions, military career, educational career and other business activities.
Ripley Davenport now has TWO websites, ripleydavenport.com and ripley-davenport.com. You can compare what the Davenports claim he has done with what he PREVIOUSLY claimed he had done (detailed in these pages). If you go to the Wayback Machine, archive.org, you can see the history of the Davenports' claims of fake explorations. And more here, the webpage for the Mongolia walk.
My thanks to those who have contacted me so far, filling in many of the blank spaces in the story from high school days to current date. If you have, or seek, information about Ripley Davenport, please contact me at: rett139@yahoo.com.
Kent Madin Bozeman Montana
Here you can read the article about Ripley Davenport in Denmark's Politiken newspaper. Here is the original article online in Danish.
If you are here having heard of Ripley Davenport having MS (Multiple Sclerosis) this may be interesting: http://ripleydavenport.net/Ripley%20MS.htm
Looking at Ripley Davenport as a speaker for your club or organization? Click here.
Laura Davenport filed a copyright infringement claim with Youtube in March of 2015. After working through their own procedures in such cases, Youtube has now reinstated the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-VcAhBjFOU.
Here's the short version of how the "cyberstalking" allegation came about: In 2009 the Davenports created a website describing Ripley, falsely, as a "renowned explorer" and actively promoted that sham in order to fool sponsors, gear manufacturers, charities, the media and private individuals into giving them money and other forms of support. A good example of that blatant slight of hand is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l3XDpKy4R8. Read the synopsis of the Davenports' story here for more examples.
When confronted with basic questions about their various professional claims, they chose not to answer and to declare themselves victims of a "cyberstalker".
My personal conclusion is that Ripley Davenport and his wife Laura have actively conspired since 2008 to build a fraudulent history of Ripley's "expeditions" in order to deceive sponsors, gear manufacturers, clients and the general public. There is ample evidence which I am happy to provide on request. Read through the material at this site and make your own decision.
Ripley Davenport and his wife Laura cooperated with Earl de Blonville, Cuchullaine O'Reilly and Basha O'Reilly to create this website: Kentmadincyberstalker.com.. The site has been suspended by hosting company but you can see an archived version here. Additional information on de Blonville and the O'Reillys is here and here. Proof of Earl de Blonville's ownership of the site is here.
Laura Davenport's blog and my response are here. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Laura Davenport filed a criminal complaint with the Bozeman Police in 2012 claiming I was a cyberstalker. The police interviewed me and found no merit to the claim. In 2014, Basha O'Reilly and her husband Cuchullaine submitted another longer and more bizarre claim to the Bozeman Police. Again, no merit to the claim. The Davenports claim that the Irish Police, Garda, are investigating me which is false. Feel free to call the Garda in Kenmare and ask them if they are conducting such an investigation at this number. Here's the website: http://www.garda.ie/stations/default.aspx
Here's the Montana Statute regarding: False reports to law enforcement authorities -
(1) A person commits an offense under this section
if the person knowingly:
(a) gives false information to any law enforcement officer with the purpose
to implicate another;
(b) reports to law enforcement authorities an offense or other incident within
their concern knowing that it did not occur; or
(c) pretends to furnish law enforcement authorities with information relating
to an offense or incident when the person knows that the person has no information
relating to the offense or incident.
(2) A person convicted under this section shall be fined not to exceed $500
or be imprisoned in the county jail for any term not to exceed 6 months, or
both.
If you are with Google and reviewing this website relative to a "right to be forgotten" request please note that the material here is fact-based and has not been factually repudiated by the Davenports. Removing this material from EU Google searches will obscure from EU citizens information that could be important to future financial and social decision making. Censoring this material will not serve the public interest. The Davenports have many legal remedies at their disposal to address concerns raised by this website.
Kent Madin rett139@yahoo.com.
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Ripley Davenport: Walter Mitty or Penny Ante Fraud?