Long lost, then found, $100 bills lead to arrests

GAFFNEY, S.C — There aren’t many secrets in a place like Gaffney, so when two heating and air conditioning workers suddenly quit their jobs and began buying stuff like a big screen TV, a used car and a riding lawn mower with $100 bills so old they didn’t even have the off-center portrait of Benjamin Franklin, people started talking.

Police said all that talk got back to Lois Brown, who had hired those men a few days earlier and made them a deal. She told the workers just before her husband died seven years ago, he said he had hidden thousands and thousands of dollars in the basement. Her family had never found the money.

If the workers found the cash, Brown said, they would be in for a big reward.

After hearing about their free-spending ways, Brown went to Joey Reed and Elie Spencer and made an offer. Keep what they bought and a bit more money for themselves, give the rest back to her and she wouldn’t go to police. They played dumb, and the law got involved, Gaffney Police Det. Brian Blanton said.

Now the men are facing grand larceny charges, accused of taking the $100,000. And Brown has sued the owner of the company they once worked for to get her money back. She hasn’t seen any of the cash from the workers, Blanton said.

“They quit their jobs the day after they found the money,” Blanton said. And they didn’t waste any time spending it.”

The story begins with a repair job at the large, white, two-story farmhouse with the wrap-around porch that Brown shared with her husband for decades before he died. He founded a business that sold small crane games, arcade games and other amusement devices. He also was in real estate and kept large amounts of cash around, Blanton said.

After Brown’s husband died in 2003, his family searched for the cash he had hidden in the basement.

Each time someone came to work at the old house, Brown offered a nice reward if the workers found the money. It was the same offer she made to Reed and Spencer in September 2010, but they left the three-day job without telling her anything, police said.

The spending spree started a few days later. Spencer had the underpinning of his mobile home secured with bricks, Blanton said. Reed bought a $1,800 television, a $1,800 riding lawn mower and a $7,500 used car for his girlfriend. All of the purchases were made with crisp $100 bills printed before the federal government started measures to fight forgery like the 1996 redesign making the portrait of Benjamin Franklin on the front off-center and bigger and adding the early 1990s decision to put a security thread to the bill, the detective said.

“The man at the car dealership took the money to the bank to verify it wasn’t counterfeit,” Blanton said.

That kind of money spent in Gaffney, a city of about 12,000 people, led folks to start asking questions. One of the in-laws of the men heard how the workers got the money and told Brown and police about it.

After the men refused Brown’s offer to not get the law involved if she got some of the money back, she called police, too. Detectives tracked down the worker who spruced up Spencer’s mobile home and he still had the old $100 bills. Others told police about their encounters, Blanton said.

Spencer, 47, and Reed, 50, are charged with grand larceny and are awaiting trial. If convicted, they face up to 10 years in prison.

Neither man’s attorney returned messages. An address for Spencer could not be found, and an eviction notice was posted to the front door of Reed’s home.

In September, Brown sued Dean Painter, owner of Painter Heating &Air Conditioning, which hired the workers. Her lawsuit said Painter should have made sure his employees were properly supervised so they didn’t steal from her. The suit asks for $100,000. Painter didn’t respond to a message.

A man who answered the door at Brown’s home, wouldn’t identify himself and refused to say where Brown was. Brown’s lawyer also didn’t respond to phone calls or emails.

Reed’s lawyer asked for a preliminary hearing, telling a judge the charge should be dropped because authorities can’t prove the money was taken from Brown’s home or even that it ever existed. He compared it to a leprechaun promising a pot of gold, according to a report on the hearing by The Gaffney Ledger.

The judge allowed the case to continue, and Blanton said she believes the prosecution has a strong case, adding, “We’ve got documents and proof they spent it like crazy.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Southbound lanes on Highway 99 reopen after crash

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, blocked traffic for over an hour. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.