The house (and barn) greed built

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By Barb Ickes | Wednesday, June 25, 2008 11:33 PM CDT | () comments

The horse barn at the former home of Earl and Julie Beasley has heated floors, more than $30,000 worth of stalls and an air-conditioned office. Buy this Photo

Naturally, I was curious to see how a co-worker spent almost a million bucks he stole from the Quad-City Times.

It looks like Earl Beasley and his ex-wife, Julie, spent the loot the same way most anybody would spend it: on stuff they wanted.

The two from Taylor Ridge, Ill., are awaiting sentencing on a combined 127 federal convictions of fraud and money laundering in their rip-off scheme, which involved phony companies they used to cheat the Times.

Earl, our obviously former maintenance supervisor, pleaded guilty, and Julie was found guilty by a jury. Both are in federal custody.

Scotty and Jean McFedries, owners of Scotty’s Auction Service, have been hired by Julie Beasley’s sister to sell what’s left of the family’s personal property. The Beasleys already unloaded most of the big stuff, including horses, furniture, tractors — anything high-dollar.

In fact, the McFedrieses said they sold some of the Beasleys’ stuff at prior auctions, before they knew the couple was in trouble with the feds. It is possible that, when the pair is sentenced, the proceeds from this next auction (July 19) will be seized by the government.

The impression I got from a little walking tour this week of the Beasley compound is that the couple spent gobs of money and did so freely. One example would be the leaded-glass door to the garage. It’s a beauty, and an expense that most of us would consider elaborate for an exterior garage door.

There’s also the oversized whirlpool tub in the master bathroom. Though the log-cabin-style home has an attached two-car garage, the Beasleys added another three-car garage, which matches the rustic motif.

The house is lovely, though you have to be pretty fond of horses to appreciate the décor.

And, man, how the Beasleys spent money on horses. Their expansive horse barn had to cost as much as the house, which is nothing to sneeze at. The McFedrieses said the stall doors alone cost at least $30,000.

The barn floors are even heated.

Frankly it was a little difficult to appreciate what must have been a gorgeous property. Besides the fact that the inside of the house is a mess and the grounds overgrown, it was a little surreal. For instance, there still were dirty dishes in the kitchen sink and toothbrushes on the bathroom counters.

There was a winning scratch-off Illinois Lottery ticket ($10) on the kitchen counter. And there were clothes seemingly everywhere.

It looked as if the occupants of the home left in a giant hurry — like there had been a fire or somebody got hurt and had to be rushed to the hospital.

But who tidies up before going to prison, right?

Some things made me wonder what went on in the house in the days leading up to Julie Beasley’s March arrest. Her bond was revoked shortly after the couple took their 9-year-old daughter on a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World. They ran up $6,900 on a credit card in Earls’ mother’s name who, by the way, has dementia and was unaware the card had been activated.

Earl Beasley was arrested when the family returned from that last hurrah.

I wondered who drank the empty bottle of Jagermeister (a stiff liqueur) that was left next to the kitchen sink. I was curious about the Lottery ticket, wondering whether it was a last-ditch effort at financial liberation. Oh, and the unused bottle of L’Oreal hair color that was on a shelf in the basement — next to a box marked “Aug-Dec, 99 bank statements.”

My imagination suggested that someone was planning a disguise.

Also on a basement shelf was a whole box of brand new baseball-style hats, including several with Bix logos on them. A box in the garage was full of smaller rifle-scope boxes, but each was empty. There also were some expensive-looking gun cases. They were empty, too.

The feds had confiscated the Beasleys’ firearms, but evidently didn’t view all those cases as a threat.

One other strange feature at the house was the lone room that was built atop the attached garage. It must have been used as a guest room, though it was fairly isolated and had no bathroom.

And then there was the bedroom at the back of the house.

It clearly was a child’s room. It belonged to a little girl whose interests were obvious by the wallpaper border filled with horses, and all the horse toys and riding boots. It’s a pleasant space, awash in natural light and peaceful views of pastures and wildflowers out its ample windows.

Now the child’s house belongs to the company that built it, the remainder of her family’s belongings will be sold to strangers, and her Mom and Dad are in prison.

In other words, we weren’t the only ones who were robbed.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at (563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.