Team works around clock to track down Parish's stuff
Saturday, April 14, 2007
BY RON MENCHACA
charleston.net
A diamond-encrusted watch lying on the floor of a clothes closet.
A rare 1830s coin jangling in a bag of loose change.
A warehouse stuffed full of collectible cartoon pictures.
Investigators hunting down Al Parish's property and investments are on a virtual treasure hunt, unearthing jewels and other valuables in bedrooms and storage units and even casually placed among children's toys.
They found reproductions of paintings by Renoir and Degas. A Norman Rockwell painting, however, may be the real thing, an initial appraisal says.
David Dantzler, an Atlanta attorney whose firm is helping track down investors' money, said the volume of items is staggering. 'Stuff is everywhere,' Dantzler said. 'It is an overwhelming task.'
He said a team of 15 attorneys, recovery experts, appraisers, movers and others has been working around the clock for more than a week locating and cataloging the trove. They have already recovered hundreds of individual items and expect to eventually inventory thousands of pieces that could be sold or auctioned off to recoup money from investors whom Parish has been charged with defrauding.
Among Parish's largest artwork collections is a series of about a dozen Red Skelton clown paintings. 'While I don't think most of us would call that fine art,' Dantzler said, 'there is a market for it.'
They've located safe-deposit boxes crammed full of uncut gemstones and rare currency. Rare books, valuable timepieces and furnishings such as a Tiffany lamp are turning up in drawers, boxes and random nooks inside Parish's numerous properties and offices.
While searching one of Parish's properties, investigators discovered documents that led them to a storage facility in Goose Creek. They cut the lock on the climate-controlled mini-warehouse and walked into a virtual gallery. 'It was packed to the gills with cartoon art,' Dantzler said.
Mount Pleasant art appraiser Evelyn Garrett, who isn't involved in the case, said beauty is in the eye of the beholder when it comes to art. 'A lot of people buy art that makes them happy,' she said. 'But even reproductions can be valuable if it's the right artist.'
She said the Rockwell painting, if original, would have considerable value. A painting by the artist that appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post recently sold at auction for $15.4 million.
Because of security concerns and insurance issues, some of the more valuable items will be moved to Atlanta for safekeeping, Dantzler said. Several smaller pieces are temporarily housed in safe-deposit boxes. There's enough of those items that the recovery team filled up all the remaining deposit boxes at one local bank.
But many of the items - particularly the artwork - aren't considered high-end investments, Dantzler said. Other items of value are still being located and investigators say they have no idea how far and wide the hunt may go.
The FBI recovered several watches from an unidentified man who turned them in after news broke of Parish's legal troubles.
Several art and collectibles dealers may also have some items of Parish's that could be recovered. At least eight companies, including Montblanc North America, Palmetto Jaguar and Capetown Diamond Corp., have been notified that they may be required to turn over other assets linked to Parish.
Authorities so far have located a dozen computers, including servers and laptops, which forensic experts will scour for financial records.
Parish and his wife owned six vehicles - two Jaguars, two Lexus models, a custom Mercedes Sprinter van and a Chrysler minivan. Five are expected to be sold; the Parish family was allowed to keep the minivan for transportation. A vehicle dealer working with the receivers loaded up the vehicles Friday for transportation to Atlanta. He estimated the combined value of the five vehicles could approach $500,000.
Dantzler said the search for the hard assets is extremely difficult because none of the items are inventoried. He likened the unwieldy process of sorting through the disparate types of property to a 'triage.'
The receiver team is starting from scratch in determining where and when certain items may have been purchased and how much they are worth, though they have been aided by some bills of sale and other documents. Parish's family also has been cooperative in helping locate and identify property, court records show.
The process also is complicated by ownership issues because some items are titled under the name of Yolanda Yoder, Parish's wife.
Generating cash from the volume of items largely will depend on individual art and collectibles markets. An appraiser is already trying to value some of the paintings. It took her only minutes to peg a couple of the paintings as reproductions, Dantzler said.
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Reach Ron Menchaca at rmenchaca@postandcourier.com or 937-5724.
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