HomeGold documents found in Upstate recycling bin

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The discovery of some documents from bankrupt HomeGold Financial Inc. in an Upstate recycling bin has led investigators to seize computers and papers from a Greenville storage facility.

Investigators said they found a 2000 financial statement, a report to the board of directors and correspondence from HomeGold's attorney in the bin after a receiving a tip from some storage facility employees.

"I will confirm that the seizure did take place. Beyond that, I can't comment," said Trey Walker, a spokesman for Attorney General Henry McMaster.

McMaster's office is investigating HomeGold and its Pickens-based subsidiary, Carolina Investors Inc. About 8,000 South Carolinians lost $275 million when HomeGold filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

Securities fraud charges have already been filed against Carolina Investors chairman Earle Morris Jr. and president Larry Owen. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Friday's seizures came after warehouse employees told a private investigator unidentified people loaded some items from the storage facility into pickup trucks and drove away, said Rick Gleissner, an attorney working for the court-appointed federal trustee in charge of the bankrupt companies.

The private investigator then found HomeGold documents in a chute funneling paper into a recycling bin for compacting, Gleissner said.

The State Law Enforcement Division then took other items after the person who leased the storage facility gave agents permission to search it.

A HomeGold employee accompanied SLED agents to Greenville and identified the computers as the Columbia-based company's property, Gleissner said.

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Information from: The Greenville News, http://www.greenvillenews.com/