HOUSTON – KPRC 2 has learned that the owner of an estate sale business employing Jeffery Allen Parsons has an extensive criminal history including convictions for theft and forgery.
According Texas Department of Correction records, Bree Anne Finch, 37, also known as Bree Quisenberry, Bree Gallardo, and Bree Hill, has been convicted 6 times in Brazoria County since 2002.
In 2010 she was charged with stealing $227,000 while working as the office manager at the Lake Jackson Healthcare Center. Investigators say she wrote checks on trust funds set up for elderly residents there.
Brazoria County records show she was convicted of Misapplication of Fiduciary Property and Theft in 2011, and sentenced to 2 years in state jail, and ordered to pay $50,000 restitution.
Finch is the president of Premier Estate Sales Network of Sugar Land which employs Parsons as a consultant. She declined comment Thursday.
Giving his name as Jeffrey Allen, he told news agencies Sunday that he and a customer discovered hidden treasure in an antique chest of drawers at a Missouri City estate sale.
"And lo and behold we open it up and there's all these coins, gold and diamond rings," he told KPRC 2. Allen estimated the value at up to $20,000. He said the buyer of the chest decided to return the treasures to the original owner.
Allen is the former millionaire owner of a bankrupt precious metals company in Springfield, IL who still owes millions to former employees.
Before moving to Texas in 2013, he went by the name Jeffrey Parsons. He's identified in federal court papers as the owner of THR & Associates Inc, in Springfield, also known as Treasure Hunters Roadshow. It was one of the largest gold buying companies in the country. Beginning in 2008, THR & Associates Inc bought and sold hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and precious metals, but then declared bankruptcy in 2012.
In a July 25, 2013 story in the Illinois Times, a bankruptcy trustee accused Parsons of concealing assets and making false statements to creditors.
"Jeffrey Richardson, the trustee, says that Parsons under-reported income in sworn statements and concealed more than $1 million from hundreds of creditors that include the Internal Revenue Service, vendors, landlords and customers who went unpaid after selling gold and other valuables to THR and Associates, Parsons' Springfield-based company.
In the span of six weeks after declaring bankruptcy last September, Parsons, through his son Jacob, sold more than $298,000 in gold and other precious metals at The Gold Center in Springfield, contrary to federal bankruptcy laws designed to ensure that creditors are paid and assets are not hidden, Richardson says."
On November 10, 2014, a federal bankruptcy judge in Illinois entered a judgment against Parsons at Richardson's request. The court order stating, "During the insolvency of THR & Associates, the Defendant, Jeffrey A. Parsons, received direct distributions or payments for his benefit...totaling $2,212,790.89" and that Parsons violated his fiduciary duty. Judge Mary P. Gorman said, "The distributions to or for the benefit of Mr. Parsons...are subject to recovery in this cause of action as a fraudulent conveyance," and ordered Parsons to repay the entire amount plus interest.
Parsons denies he hid assets or made false statements.
A separate court order, says Parsons still owes more than $12,000,000 to former employees who sued and won for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Asked by KPRC 2 Wednesday why now identifies himself as Jeffrey Allen, Parson's said,
"Well I'm a consultant, a business consultant, and this isn't the story and I don't care to do a story on this. There is no story....My name Jeffrey Allen Parsons. That's what I go by, Jeffery Allen."
Parson ended the interview when asked if he was trying to conceal his past history.
"I'm not even involved in this situation I work for this company as a consultant," he said.
An earlier press release invited news agencies to cover the return of the items found in the chest of drawers to the son of the original owner Thursday morning.
When a KPRC 2 crew arrived at the location given in the release, Parsons said the event was canceled, and ordered crew members off the property.