This is the second in what turned into a series of articles. Here is the first and here is the next.
Is this the face behind the phone call?
A Facebook friend forwarded a link to a Facebook profile for Helen Pearce that has a number of suspicious similarities to our friend JJ Pierce of Flat Stone Capital. According to her profile, she’s married to Matt Pearce and they live in Celebration, FL.
I think this is JJ. I’m going to see if I can stitch it together here. As I’ve said before, there’s always a chance that I’ve stumbled on the wrong person. But there are a lot of reasons to believe this is the one.
In Faith Properties and Husband Matt
Online complaints about rent-to-buy scams mention In Faith Properties as one of the companies involved in these deals. Marion County Florida small claims court case 07-569-SC names “Matt and Helen (Joanne) Pearce DBA In Faith Properties, Inc.” as defendants. The plaintiff won her house in Silver Springs, FL back from the Pearce’s on Feb 21, 2007. The final judgement is below.
Redfield Holdings and JJ Pearce
We showed in the previous post that Redfield Holdings is owned by “JJ Pearce”. Flat Stone Capital is owned by “JJ Pierce”. Flat Stone Capital’s mailing address is 52 Riley Rd #172, Kissimmee, FL. Osceola County Florida court documents put “Joanne Pearce” at the same address. The Florida DMV lists Helen Joanne Pearce at the same address, but box 231 (same address as Jep Genesis LLC, one of Matt and Helen’s real estate investment companies).
I think it’s safe to say that “JJ Pierce” is the same person as “Joanne Pearce”, who is the same person as “JJ Pearce”.
Connection to Oklahoma
According to their Facebook profiles, Helen and Matt Pearce are both from Chickasha, OK. In this discussion, “Neleha Dun” (remember, “Neleha” is “(a)Helen” backwards) is said to have a law degree from Oklahoma City University and to have attended the University of Central Oklahoma. Helen’s Facebook profile says she went to Oklahoma University, and Matt’s says he went to Oklahoma State.
Helen’s parents still live in Chickasha and she is friends with them on Facebook.
Connection to University of Central Florida
According to Flat Stone Capital’s website, JJ Pierce graduated from “the University of Central Florida, respectively (sic).” Matt’s Facebook profile says he studied at the University of Central Florida.
Matt and Helen’s Fitness Site
Matt and Helen operate a fitness website at www.pearcefitness.com. It features a form to submit prayer requests and another to request a free Bible. Redfield Holding’s website has a similar form for prayer requests and another similar form for a free Bible. It’s great that these websites present opportunities for visitors to share their prayer requests and ask for a free Bible for themselves or a friend, but you have to admit it’s quite unusual for a business site (other than a Bible-related business) to offer such options. The fact that these two unrelated sites feature the same unusual features and are operated by people with the same last name suggests that the people are one and the same.
AOL and Juno Accounts
Several of Helen’s real estate businesses have AOL addresses, and my comments on that are what set JJ off. I commented in my previous post that JJ “must really admire people with Juno accounts” (because Juno has an even worse reputation than AOL when it comes to the sophistication of its users). Ironically, Helen has a Juno account that she hasn’t yet shared with me. I find that hilarious. (I’m sure you luv Matt, too, Helen.)
Personal Details
- The fact that there really is a Helen Pearce in the city where JJ Pearce, JJ Pierce, Joanne Pearce, and Helen Joanne Pearce all operate suggests they are the same person.
- The fact that Matt and Helen (Joanne) Pearce are connected to a property investment firm (In Faith Properties) that apparently does the same thing Flat Stone Capital does (rents homes that they have to be sued to vacate) suggests that Helen Pearce is JJ Pierce.
- The fact that neither Matt nor Helen appear to have full-time employment outside the home according to their Facebook profiles suggests that they would have the time to run a business like Flat Stone Capital.
- Matt’s middle name is Eric. There are mentions in the online discussions of “Joanne” (middle name) mentioning “Eric” (middle name), as an investor.
- Matt and Helen identify overtly as Christians, just as JJ Pearce does on the Redfield Holdings site, and JJ Pierce did in her emails to me.
Why Am I Doing This?
I personally don’t care if Helen takes advantage of desperate people who are hungry for any offer to sell their house. But as a nice lady at church once told me (that’s a story for another day), “you’ve poked the bear”. I never would’ve bothered to figure all this out if “JJ” hadn’t called me a “fool” then threatened to sue me for “slander”. I think it’s important for people to know who they’re dealing with when they get that anonymous phone call and surprising offer by email. Not everyone has that little red flag that goes up and warns them not to accept. I am that red flag.
Helen’s Champion
Matt is Helen’s fitness-obsessed, day-trading, Hummer-driving husband. From the pictures I’ve seen of him, he doesn’t look like someone you’d want to mess with. Especially if you’ve read his rap sheet, which in addition to issuing fraudulent checks includes child abuse, assault, and felony battery. In particular, I don’t recommend anyone outing his wife for her questionable real estate activities. Oh, wait….
Update: Feb 21, 2014
Helen is an actress according to her IMDB profile. Tip o’ the hat to David in our Canadian research office for this one.
Helen is an author according to this single-entry blog. Tristan turned this one up from our Texas branch.
Update: Feb 26, 2014
Flat Stone Capital is on LinkedIn, but just changed their name from “Flat Stone Capital LLC” to “FS Capital LLC”.
Update: Jan 29, 2015
Helen is now going by “Ferin Caffrey” and “Reagan Fields”.
Update: Feb 23, 2015
Helen accidentally confesses to multiple felonies: Intentionally providing false information to the Florida Department of State while registering one of her LLCs, and entering into contracts under a false identity.
Craig. What a hoot. Good to see you are having some fun on the computer. I did see 6 complaints made to the Better Business Bureau against Redfield Holdings LLC at: http://www.bbb.org/central-florida/business-reviews/real-estate-rent-to-own/redfield-holdings-in-kissimmee-fl-90195579/complaints
My favorite one in that batch is the guy who agreed to remove his BBB complaint because Redfield responded and said they’d send him a check. Then he comes back and says they never paid him. 🙂
My hope is that despite all the complaints and despite the implications one can draw from the fact that Helen has to change her identity every few months to escape the negative feedback from her most disappointed customers, that somewhere out there are some happy home sellers for whom this whole process comes off without a hitch. It’s an interesting business model where even if 50% of your subletters never pay the rent and you lose those houses in the process, you’re never really hurt. The home seller takes all the risk and bears all the losses. And I’m not sure if any laws are violated. It’s just a contract where one party fails to uphold their end of the deal and has to walk away.
Craig aka “The Bear”- Hilarious and sickening, all rolled together. JJ and Matt need to do a little jail time. They are con artists and people are getting bilked. I’ll share the site with my friends and associates. It’s good reading and a good lesson too. Thanks for investing the time.
I have been scammed by redfield holdings llc as well or whoever they really are.I payed the down payment and the monthly payments as promised.She promised me a new contract to start ownership on the home once the down payment was recieved.Then I get an eviction notice for non payment.I called no response then she finally text and says i didnt contact her .If anybody has any info please contact me I am going to court soon and I need all the info I can get on these scammers.They are in alabama scamming now so its getting out of hand and they are everywhere.
I am planning a lawsuit against Miss Joannes Pierce myself. Her compnay last year was JEP Genesis LLC. They took advantage of my family and owe us 4000.00. This was our deposit which was to be used towards the purchase of the property. She failed to pay the owner his monthly payments and her contract with him became null and void. We are still living in the house with a new lwase agreement with the owner. We contacted Joanne to get our 4000.00 back. She said no problem and said that she transfered it to the owner of the property. This was a lie. He never received any of our money. We called her back and said that the owner and his lawyer were with us and they never received any of our money. She then got very angey with us and hung up. We called her back and she threatened us with harrasing her. We will see what the judge says. We should exchange facts for both of our court cases. Thanks, Jim
Did you get anywhere with the legal action? I am in the same situation but the money lost is significantly more.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
TS
I am starting the eviction process on my property. I signed a 12 month agreement with them to lease my home with purchase option. They then turned around and signed tenant to 36 month lease. They have collected 3 months of rent but have paid me nothing.
Did you find her? We just found out we were scammed by Jj pierce and have gotten a lawyer. Of course now she is not returning any phone calls or emails to us or the owners of the home. Any information would be helpful please
I’ve published three articles here on my blog, including several aliases, her husband’s name, several addresses, case numbers, etc. I can’t imagine what more I could give you. Good luck! 🙂
I received this EXACT phone call & correspondence from these people, but from a different but similar name. It smelled like a scam from the word GO. I respectfully declined. I was actually offended that they thought I would go for that. Thanks for sharing and great research! Glad the words getting out.
We too received the same phone call and got the offer a few days later. We asked for references and was referred to the website. When I ask for references I meant business associates, financial companies she had done business with. Of course didn’t get what I wanted. Our offer came from fs capital LLC. So happy I found your website. Thank you.
We have also been scammed from so called JJ from redfield holdings for a total of $14,200. The sad thing is that we will find her. And she will be prosecuted and serve her jail time. This woman who has prayers posted on her website is a fool. Working for the devil. God always wins.
After I left my business card on her “office” door, a drop box at a UPS store, she closed the box and removed any reference to a physical address from her Redfield Holdings LLC website. Any information on her latest point(s) of contact would be helpful to me and the Kissimmee Police Department.
I have been waiting for our first month of rent and now I’m really disillusioned. She was super friendly upfront, then very responsive. Now I can’t get in touch with her. This morning we decided to dig deeper and stumbled on your website. The name and address match everything we’ve gotten from her. We had sent a receipt for the $500 deposit and just got it back with a return to sender stamp. Seems to match the trend I’m hearing above. Is there anyone out there who has notified the FBI? JJ and her husband Matt appear to be preying on folks all across the country (our home is not in Florida or Alabama).
They should be stopped for this fraud!
How do we contact the FBI- do you know??
OMG- thank you SO much for gathering and publishing all of this information. My renters and I are battling getting thousands of dollars from this “JJ” from “Redfield Holdings”….doesn’t look promising, but so glad I at least found this information. Again, thank you!!!!
No problem. I didn’t lose anything so this was mostly just fun for me. She does a really good job of flying just under the radar. She doesn’t take any one person for a lot of money, and she makes it difficult to track her so it’s probably not worth what one would have to spend to take her down. On the other hand, I was able to find a lot of information with the help of a private investigator and some friends who got interested and spent time going through lots of Web searches. I think if you hired a professional investigator you would learn a lot and learn it quickly. It might be helpful to hire both a lawyer and an investigator in Florida so they can be close to the action. Good luck!!
I think I have her at a new scam. She is operating as Ferin Caffrey with FSC Endeavors. Notice the “FSC” I did when I saw Flat Stone Capital. Same drop box at UPS. Same story. I went and talked to the lady that is in our house. I couldn’t get a response from “Ferin” so I decided to flush her out. I love the “slander” she said was posted on a blog…I had to take her to 4th grade and it is “libel” when written, but if she wanted to stand in front of a judge and rant because someone thinks she is a thief, then let’s go. She blames all the lack of payments on the US Postal Service. I am sure there is some kind of federal law against mail fraud. This is how I tracked her down by using Whois and getting the registrant…Matt Eric Pearce. Same 52 Riley Street address. I will post more. You all are right, she is hard to find and I am very good at finding people wanted by the government. Thank you for this site.
I’m also seeing references to RF Holdings that sound like her.
Check Whois and netsolutions and see who is the registrant for the website. Eric Pearce is the registrant for FSC Endeavors, LLC the scam that I am presently dealing with. He put the registrant email as redfieldholdings.com. I only wish I had thought to check this sooner. We aren’t the ones that got hurt as much as the tenant, but we are working with her and she won’t be on the street. I am giving some specific information I have to the USPS Investigation Service and I think they will be able to track a Priority Mail pick up to a physical location. I am sending the Pay or Quit Notice as required in Virginia and when she doesn’t respond (how can she at an address that is a UPS store) then I evict and take possession again. Live and learn. Keep posting and thanks for this site.
The UPS Store has mailboxes for rent. It allows you to have an address that looks like an office building instead of a PO Box. So she does check her mail and will get your notice. It will just be one of many she receives and she will ignore it.
I have “slandered” her more since she last accused me of slander than I did before, but she hasn’t been back. I think she knows how to pick her battles. She has nothing to gain by arguing with me, no basis to sue me, and she knows I have no standing to sue her. So I’m harmless and she knows it. I’m a little surprised she hasn’t posted comments here under an alias like she does on other sites. I saw your comments on her weebly.com site. She deleted your comments (and mine) from yesterday. You have to realize that everyone there is her, even the people asking the questions. If you want to make others aware of her, monitor the Zillow forums. She can’t delete posts there. 🙂
I found a wordpress blog where the person goes on and on about how great Ferin is, but refers to him as a man. “Jason” at the weebly.com blog calls her a woman. So maybe she’s trans? 🙂
Here’s the blog, posted ONE DAY after FSC Endeavors was registered as an LLC in Florida: https://beaud777.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/my-wife-and-i-enjoyed-working-with-fsc-endeavors-llc-ferin-caffrey/
Craig,
Went in to see whats been added to your blogs. Would be interested if Florida Secretary of State should be checking out all of her aliases. She has to file a new LLC every time she changes names. Maybe someone should see about making them liable? They should partially be responsible for protecting the consumer? Would also like to know outcome of the couple who went to their Jag Officers.
I’ve contacted the Department of State, Division of Corporations regarding the use of false identities and questionable addresses but have not heard back. I’m planning an update soon to describe what’s been happening since “Doug” started his investigation (see his comments here and on the other related articles). Some great progress is being made, not all of which is being published here. 🙂
I was told over a year ago that they needed to have several formal complaints for the state attorney to pursue. They did attempt to contact JJ but of course could not get in touch with them. I too was a victim and hate that this continues to innocent families. I have written off the loss as a lesson learned but would love to see some justice done so that these people are no longer able to do this. After all was said I hired a real estate attorney who helped me to get out of this mess and was I informed that there are specific laws about this type of “mortgage pyramid ” scams. Good luck and if anyone needs anything for reference in a legal precedent I have all of my paperwork, emails and notes and would be glad to assist also I have an online complaint on peopleclaim.com about my story in depth.
Wow this is exactly what happened to my husband as we were trying to sell our home near Jacksonville FL. This happened to us almost 3 years ago we had an attorney look over the contract and a financial advisor look into their background, at that time there was nothing negative about them because I too looked online for JJ Pearce and Redfield holdings. We had to relocate for my husband’s job and were really wanting to sell during a bad real estate climate and yes we were leery but felt somewhat reassured with her proclaiming to be a Christian. They got us for over $9000 they collected in rent from our tenant but we never received because our check was lost in the mail. I complained to the BBB in Kissimmee and JJ threatened me with a slander lawsuit and then offered to catch up a payment via a wire transfer if I took down the complaint. After that I never received another payment and I went to a litigation service and she wrote me a scathing letter saying I was persecuting her for being a Christian and she was going to sue me for all the trouble I caused. I never heard from her again I filed complaints with the state attorneys office and the Department of Licenses however by the time they attempted to serve them they had moved from their office (rental office). At the time of my complaint to the state attorney there were only 2 other complaints for Redfield and I was told that there were not enough complaints or people for them to pursue it any further. The upsetting thing is that they continue to scam innocent families of their hard earned money the also stole over $20,000 from our tenants in deposits and rental $$.
Jennifer I know exactly who you are based on your description of Helen’s contact with you through the BBB. If you read all the comments here you’ll eventually run into one where I cite your case. I am going to contact you by email with more information about how to help.
We are also scammed. We just figured it out last month. Unfortunately, I have issues with my tenants and are not going very easily. My contact is Reagan Fields. Identical to what all of you are writing in your blog. I am filing in court tomorrow.
Sorry to hear that, Lisa. I’ve sent you an email with more information about the legal process. Let me know if you do not receive that.