Monday, August 1, 2016

Jessica Medeiros Garrison, who apparently bought a $440,000 Mountain Brook home for $30,000, now has sold the house--and made a $140,000 profit


House at 119 Main Street, Mountain Brook
(From trulia.com)
Alabama Republican operative Jessica Medeiros Garrison, whose 2012 purchase of a $439,900 house in exclusive Mountain Brook contributed to questions about her relationship with Attorney General Luther Strange, has sold the house--making a nifty profit of more than $100,000 in the process.

Jefferson County property-tax records indicate a prominent figure in the Alabama banking community helped make the transaction possible. Is that one of the perks Jessica Garrison enjoys from her role as Luther Strange's mistress? That seems like a reasonable question to ask.

Garrison sold the house, at 119 Main Street in the Crestline Heights section of Mountain Brook, on June 22, 2015--roughly three years after she bought it. Garrison sold it to Ray Bryan and Anne H. Petty for $550,000. Public records show that Garrison bought the house at foreclosure, over a roughly one-year period, for $441,922.

That means Garrison garnered a nifty profit of almost $140,000--$139,078, to be exact, if my math is correct (always a big "if").

Strangely, records indicate Garrison purchased full ownership rights to the house in July 2012, with a winning bid at auction of $30,000. Almost one year later--after I had begun reporting on her relationship with Strange, her role as his campaign manager, and the loads of cash he was sending to companies she owns--a second auction was conducted, in June 2013. A second foreclosure deed shows Garrison had the high bid of $411,922, bringing the total to slightly more than the appraised value of the house.

The second foreclosure deed shows the bid of almost $412,000 made Garrison full owner of the house. But the first foreclosure deed indicates she already was the owner, with the $30,000 bid. You can see why we've used the word "funky" to describe this real-estate deal.

Speaking of funky, consider this: Ray B. Petty, who purchased Garrison's house, is on the board of directors of ServisFirst Bank in Montgomery. Petty joined ServisFirst in 2008 as chief development officer; before that, he was regional president for SouthTrust/Wachovia, where he worked in various roles for 35 years. At one point, he was CEO of Wachovia Mortgage Corporation.


Ray B. Petty
(From alabamaagcredit.com)
An Web search shows Ray Petty's address as 3296 Lancaster Lane in Montgomery. Property records show that house was in the name of Anne H. Petty, who appears to be Ray Petty's wife. Property records show the Lancaster Lane house sold in 2015. Did the Pettys move together to Birmingham when they bought Jessica Garrison's house or are they using it as rental property?

We have more questions than answers at the moment. For example:

* Was it a happy coincidence that Ray Petty was interested in buying Jessica Garrison's house? Or did he do it as a favor because of professional connections to her or Luther Strange, or both?

* Where does Jessica Garrison live now? That's a key question because a ruling in her divorce/child custody case with ex husband Lee Garrison (president of the Tuscaloosa City School Board) requires her to live within 60 miles of his residence. That restriction forced her to give up a job in Luther Strange's office after he was elected attorney general.

So where is Jessica Garrison now? We are in the process of figuring that out.


(To be continued)

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm . . . this could get interesting.

Anonymous said...

Guess who the biggest contributor - by far - to Luther Strange for AG was?

ServisFirst Bank - $250,000. AFTER the election was over.

Smelly.

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks for sharing that information, @11:25. Very interesting, and very smelly, for sure. I'm proud to have some good reporters among our readers. I wonder if Ray Petty and/or his wife contributed as individuals.

Anonymous said...

Jessica bought an even more expensive house in Mountain Brook after she "sold" the first one, by the way. probably with the profits from this "sale."

legalschnauzer said...

Yes, will be reporting on that transaction soon. It's interesting and smelly, too.

Anonymous said...

If Luther still is doing favors for Jessica, that makes me think they are still an item.

Anonymous said...

A quick clarification..Ray was CEO of the Alabama portion of Wachovia mortgage as a result of the merger of Wachovia and SouthTrust. Also, Ray and his wife have owned several properties around the state and southeast, including a condo they may still own in Homewood. You may want to check to see if this house replaces the condo. Not saying it's not fishy, just some basic background for you and your readers.

Anonymous said...

Jessica bailed out of her job with RAGA and its affiliates in January 2016? Wonder why she did that. Wasn't that her primary job.

legalschnauzer said...

I wonder the same thing, @1:35. And yes, that appeared to be her primary job, one she obtained (if my memory serves me correctly) when she could not keep job in AG's office because of child/custody case.

Anonymous said...

http://realtime.influenceexplorer.com/filings/1050421/SB/
https://www.opensecrets.org/expends/vendor.php?year=2016&vendor=Mdm27+Holdings%2C+Inc
http://realtime.influenceexplorer.com/filings/1045396/SB/

Unknown what the total spend is by Gary Palmer (and possibly by others- which I did not check for) with MDM27 Holdings Inc.

About Gary Palmer- Wikipedia says:

In 1989, Palmer co-founded the Alabama Family Alliance, which later became the Alabama Policy Institute. Palmer served as president of the conservative think tank for 25 years, stepping down in 2014 to pursue a run for Congress.[7] Palmer helped found the State Policy Network, a nonprofit umbrella organization for conservative and libertarian think tanks which focus on state-level policy, and served as its president.[8]

Palmer is a longtime member of Briarwood Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America) in Birmingham.


Attorney General Luther Strange and Gary Palmer can be on the same page when it suits them:

http://www.ago.state.al.us/news/371.pdf
http://www.wvtm13.com/news/Palmer-reacts-to-transgender-bathroom-lawsuit/39915110

I don't know why I can't find anything online about Luther Strange visiting with Briarwood's Jethro Council like Congressman Gary Palmer has. It sure seems like Luther would be their kind of a bird.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.783891281741439.1073741924.545855605545009&type=3

(No, Briarwood's Jethro Council has nothing to do with the Beverly Hillbillies' Jethro. Jethro was the father of Zipporah who was Moses' wife if you believe your old testament.)

Anonymous said...

You live in a house only three years and make almost $140,000 when you sell it -- the an exec at the bank that supports Luther Strange? Pretty sweet. Also, pretty stinky.

Anonymous said...

Check for a comment submitted a few minutes ago. It has so many links it is likely to end up in the spam folder.

legalschnauzer said...

Is it the post at @5:04?

Anonymous said...

That's it- the one with the links at 5:04.

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks. Look forward to checking out your links.

Robby Scott Hill said...

Let's play a game. If Jessica bought a new home with proceeds from the sale of Roger's home that may have satisfied a portion of the defamation judgment she obtained without a jury trial & that judgment is later reversed, can Roger force her to sell her new home & may Roger also collect restitution from all the attorneys who took their fees from the sale of Roger's home?

legalschnauzer said...

Very interesting scenario, Rob. I had not thought of that one. Do you think it's possible that some of the proceeds from sale of our home went to Rob Riley and/or Liberty Duke?

legalschnauzer said...

What is Briarwood's Jethro Council, @5:04? I've never heard of it. What kind of "counsel" do they provide? Mike Hull is chairman of the Jethro Council. Know anything about his background?

If they are providing political counsel, wouldn't that jeopardize Briarwood's tax-exempt status?

Thanks for your insights.

Anonymous said...

" What kind of "counsel" do they provide? "

The obvious response is to ask "What kind of counsel do the church members need?"

Being as the church members are all Christians, there can't be that much sinning. Nothing like the governor did and has been doing anyway!


I don't know much about this merry band of Jethros.

The name is of biblical origin see Exodus 18 or google something like Moses Jethro advice bible or similar.

Certainly you don't suspect that any church in Alabama would knowingly do anything to jeopardize their tax-exempt status? Certainly not if they thought that they'd get caught and called to a reckoning of some sort.