Parsons avoids jail…for now

Jeffrey Parsons avoided arrest today for skipping court-ordered restitution to his former employees, but the judge put Parsons on a short leash for the next four months.

Parsons is the former owner of THR & Associates, a now-defunct gold and antiques buying business that went belly-up and left several employees unpaid, even after a $12.3 million court judgement against him. He is also the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation and a messy, unresolved bankruptcy case.

Parsons appeared today in federal court to answer U.S. District Court Judge Richard Mills about why he hasn’t paid the $5,155 monthly payments Mills previously ordered. It was a repeat of the April 16 hearing in which Parsons told the judge he didn’t have any money and couldn’t make the payments Mills had ordered in October 2014. Mills told Parsons at the April 16 hearing that if he didn’t pay, Parsons “can collect his toothbrush from me,” a reference to putting Parsons in jail for contempt of court. But Mills reneged on the threat today, accepting Parsons’ argument that he has no money.

The evidence was less than convincing to Colleen Lawless, the attorney for the stiffed employees. Lawless questioned Parsons on the witness stand about the four-bedroom, 3600-square-foot house he rents in Houston, Texas, with his girlfriend and employer, Bree Finch. Their monthly rent is $2,550, but they don’t live at the house that Finch owns because Finch’s daughter lives there. Parsons said he and Finch are looking for ways to reduce their living expenses, including getting out of the lease on the rented house. Parsons also told the court he doesn’t own a car and is barely making ends meet because Finch’s estate-buying business, Premier Estate Sales, isn’t doing well. He said that he hadn’t been paid the full amount his employment contract with Finch called for because of the meager profits from Premier.

Parsons blamed that on “bad press” the pair received in May. Parsons had called a TV station in Houston about an antique dresser he says he bought and in which he says he found a stash of gold, jewels and other treasures. He claimed to have called the family from which the dresser was purchased to return the goods, but the story blew up when the Texas media learned of his history in Springfield. 

[See “He’s back, and with an alias,” May 12, 2015, by Bruce Rushton.]

Lawless said nothing had changed since the April 16 hearing at which Mills had threatened Parsons with jail, adding that Parsons’ child support payments of $800 per month were unpaid for several months until yesterday, when Parsons paid all but July’s payment. 

“He does things at the last minute to skate by,” Lawless said before asking Mills to send Parsons to jail.

Dan Fultz, Parsons’ attorney in the criminal investigation, took over representing Parsons in the employee lawsuit today, as well, telling the judge he was only in his second hour of representing Parsons in the case. Parsons previously represented himself in the case.

“Nobody wants his case,” Fultz told Mills, attempting to explain why he was unexpectedly appearing as Parsons’ lawyer.

Fultz made an impassioned plea to Mills in favor of keeping Parsons out of jail because, Fultz reasoned, Parsons can’t earn money to pay the judgement against him if he’s in jail. Mills agreed.

“It’s always a shame that there’s no blood in a turnip,” Mills said before lowering Parsons’ required monthly payment. 

Parsons told the judge that after living expenses, he could pay only $375 per month. Mills instead set the new amount at $500 per month, with the caveat that Parsons must send the money to the court directly – no personal checks, he admonished – or face immediate arrest for contempt of court.

“Many would just as soon see him head down to the Springfield slammer right now,” Mills observed. “Our eye is not on that ball, but on the matter of getting some money. … If he doesn’t make those payments every month, no question, he’s going to jail for civil contempt. That’s all there is to it.” 

Mills continued the case until November, at which time he’ll reevaluate how much Parsons should pay each month.

Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.

This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2015.