Doing an estate sale for your family can be a stressful and often emotional thing as you say goodbye to memories, often after saying goodbye to your loved one.
KPRC 2 Investigator Bill Spencer spent months tracking down a woman accused of stealing thousands of dollars from families in the Houston area. Spencer has heard from more families who say they were also victims.
Samantha Weaver shows us the house she grew up in with her mom and dad. A home her parents filled with opulent furniture, artwork, sculptures, rare clocks, antiques and collectibles.
But many of those items are gone now. Stolen Weaver says by an estate sales shark who offered to sell her family’s most precious possessions at an estate sale and give her 60% of the proceeds. But instead, she says she got nothing.
“Basically. been having severe anxiety and panic attacks trying to hunt this woman down for over a year. And I’m tired of it and I’ll take any help I can get,” said Weaver.
Weaver says she lost a total of $14,896 dollars to the owner of Collective Home Mercantile, Sheri Rae Meekins.
Not only that, Weaver says as part of the deal, Meekins was supposed to sell her late mother’s black Lexus and yet more than a year later, KPRC 2 Investigates found it parked in Meekins driveway, still registered to Weaver’s mom and dad.
‘She has been driving my mom’s car while it’s still in my mom’s name as her own personal vehicle for the last 16 months, and. When I was alerted to that fact and saw the picture of the car outside of her house. I thought I was going to throw up,” said Samantha Weaver.
At 81 years old, Barbara Spaulding of Jersy Village hired Sheri Meekins to sell many of her most cherished belongings gathered over 50 years of her life.
“Well, when I met her, she was so nice and personable and just friendly with everybody that came in,” said Spaulding.
Barbara says she was supposed to be paid over $7,000 dollars for her belongings but in the end got absolutely nothing now all she wants is.
“Just to see her caught and so she doesn’t do it to anyone else. This seems to be a job for her is scamming people,” said Spaulding.
And if heartbreak can be measured Amy Sharp and her brother Jason say losing their dad then having to sell his belongings, then losing $5,000 to Sheri Meekins has been one of the cruelest things that’s ever happened to them.
“My last thing I’m supposed to be doing for my dad and I can’t do it, because this woman has taken our money,” said Sharp.
Bill Spencer finally finds estate sale owner, she agrees to talk
For three months KPRC 2 Investigator Bill Spencer tried to track down, called and texted, the woman all these people say ripped them off.
And then finally, just days ago, Meekins agreed to meet me face to face. Here’s how that conversation went:
Bill: “How would you feel if someone did to you, what you have done to these three families?” asks Bill.
Meekins: “I would feel the same, I would be hurt, I would feel angry. I’m sorry, nothing, nothing that’s happened has been intentional.”
Meekins blames much of what she’s done on her own mental depression following the death of her son in 2020, she says she is truly sorry, but as far as making things right for all these people.
Bill: “Do you have any way of paying any of the money back to any of these 3 families? Can you pay them even a small portion?”
Meekins: “In a couple months, I will be able to, I am absolutely broke.”
Two of the families did file lawsuits in small claims court. One of them did win a judgement but has been unable to collect on it.
“It’s unfortunate, but a lot of people do get ripped off when it comes to having items sold for them through an estate sales company because there is no specific do’s and don’ts to all of this. There’s no regulation in the state of Texas for estate sales,” said Carolina Petriciolet with the Greater Houston Better Business Bureau.
RELATED: Bill Spencer explains what to look for when shopping around for an estate sale company.
Bill started working on this investigation after an email into KPRC 2 Investigates. If you have a tip or topic idea, email us at Investigates@kprc.com.