Thursday, June 13, 2013

SC Feds Score Title Transfer Freeze On Home Co-Owned By Suspect Facing Federal Gambling Charges; Will Seek Residence Forfeiture If Prosecution Leads To Conviction

In Columbia, South Carolina, The State reports:

  • The fallout from Irmo bookie Brett Parker’s killing of his wife and sports betting clerk is not over, even though he is now in a state prison.

    He and his father, Jack Parker, along with a third man, Douglas E. Taylor, are expected to stand trial later in the summer on federal gambling charges. As part of that case, the federal government is trying to seize Lake Murray property and a bank account from Brett Parker’s parents.

    U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie earlier this month issued a restraining order to prevent Jack and Linda Parker from selling their 5,300-square-foot home on 1.96 acres near Ballentine and from cashing out a $67,302 certificate of deposit at First Citizens Bank. The Lake Murray property has a tax value of $520,700, according to Richland County tax records.

    The federal government will ask that the Parkers forfeit those assets if Jack Parker is convicted, according to court documents. Linda Parker has not been charged or indicted.

    The father and son, along with Taylor, were indicted in February on federal gambling charges in the wake of Brett Parker’s arrest on two murder charges in Richland County. Brett Parker was convicted Tuesday in the shooting deaths his wife, Tammy Jo Parker, and Bryan Capnerhurst, his sports betting clerk. Prosecutors said he killed his wife and then attempted to frame Capnerhurst as a way to escape a failing marriage and mounting debt from his own gambling habit. He stood to gain $1.1 million from his wife’s estate.

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