Campus Crest CEO Ted Rollins Caused His Own Children To Be Thrown On the Streets

Ted Rollins

Ted Rollins, the CEO of Campus Crest Communities, has the use of private jet craft and belongs to one of the nation's wealthiest families--the folks behind Orkin Pest Control and its parent company, Rollins Inc. Those were the findings of a South Carolina judge after Sherry Carroll Rollins filed for divorce from Ted Rollins in Greenville, where they lived.

What happened while the divorce case was pending, after a judge had ordered Ted Rollins to ensure that his wife and two daughters had "undisturbed use" of the marital home? Ted Rollins caused them to be kicked out of the house, booted onto the streets. The children, Sarah and Emma Rollins, were 8 and 4 years old at the time.

Sherry Rollins could think of only one thing to do--she fled with her daughters to Alabama, where her sons from a previous marriage lived. That's what led to Rollins v. Rollins being unlawfully moved to Shelby County, Alabama--and it led to a divorce judgment from Circuit Judge D. Al Crowson that is so favorable to Ted Rollins, and so blatantly contrary to law, that we have called it the worst civil cheat job in our experience.

But this story goes beyond courtroom shenanigans. It also reflects the kind of blatant inhumanity that a member of America's "1 Percent" can inflict on others, even his own children. And Sherry Rollins, in chilling detail, describes Ted Rollins' disregard for others in an extended interview with Legal Schnauzer. (See one segment of the videotaped interview below.)

A South Carolina judge ordered Ted Rollins to maintain the mortgage payment and insurance on the family home so that Sherry Rollins and the girls could have an "undisturbed" place to live. Did Ted Rollins obey that order? Not on your life.

Says Sherry Rollins: "When we were asked to leave the house, I know the house note had not been paid for 15 months. . . . (Ted) did not pay anything after the judge (made his order) . . . . I was forced out onto the streets in 2003 with two children, ages 4 and 8. The sheriff was coming to remove my things."

Here is how we described the process in a previous post. As you can see, the Rollins family has tentacles that stretch far and wide:

Were Sherry Rollins and the children undisturbed in their home? Not exactly. The mortgage was held by First National Bank of Oneida in Scott County, Tennessee. Former U.S. Sen. Howard Baker was a long-time board member of the bank and also was a close ally to John W. Rollins, the business magnate who was Ted Rollins' father. Court-ordered payments on the home apparently were not made, and officials from First National Bank kicked Ms. Rollins and her children out on the streets. They fled to Alabama, where Ms. Rollins had family.

Did Ted Rollins use one of his family's good-old-boy Republican networks to help heap abuse on his wife and children? Does it trouble Ted Rollins that he caused his own children to be kicked out of their home? It's hard to tell. We have sent him questions in writing via e-mail, per his request, and he has refused to respond.

We also have asked about a child-support document Ted Rollins filed in Alabama, claiming he made roughly $50,000 year, from a job with a Tennessee mortgage company. That was the only income Ted Rollins listed on the form, but Sherry Rollins says evidence indicates that her ex husband's income was substantially higher than that. Just consider the Greenville home from which Ms. Rollins and the children were unceremoniously booted:

"We paid $350,000 for the house and did $120,000 of renovations. It was a 4,800-square-foot house, with a guest house . . ., a pool, an acre lot. I had the house appraised . . . , and the agent said I should list it for anywhere from $850,000 to $1.2 million. That was in 2001 or 2002."

How many guys who make $50,000 a year live in a home that could be listed at roughly $1 million, in South Carolina? That is just one of many things that smell funny about Ted Rollins' actions in Rollins v. Rollins. And it raises this question: If Ted Rollins would treat his own children this way, how would he treat college students that are tenants at some 30 Campus Crest Communities around the country?

If I were a parent with a child in one of those complexes, I would be asking myself that question: