HOA Nut House

Executive allegedly embezzled money from Calverts, other clients

DANIEL BROWNSTEIN AND TIM DONNELLY
(Hilton Head) Island Packet

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. --
The investigation into the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert is now focused almost exclusively on the finances of the property management company that kept the books for the couple's four island businesses, authorities said last week.

Detectives from the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office and FBI were studying financial problems at The Club Group before its chief financial officer apparently killed himself March 11.

That probe appears to have intensified the last two weeks, since the company released an audit accusing the dead man, Dennis Gerwing, of embezzling $2.1 million from eight clients.

Investigators have a "fairly lengthy list" of people to interview but are waiting to do so until the financial inquiry into The Club Group is completed, Sheriff P.J. Tanner said.

Tanner said his office is nearly finished scouring computers, BlackBerry devices and cell phones belonging to Gerwing and the Calverts. He would not say what, if anything, has been learned.

Also unknown are the contents of two suicide notes left behind by Gerwing on the same day he was publicly called a "person of interest" in the case.

Results of a toxicology report, which would determine whether he had drugs or alcohol in his system, are also pending.

Tanner said the two notes, one on paper and the other scrawled nearly illegibly on a bedsheet, are still being analyzed by the State Law Enforcement Division. Tom Gardo, spokesman for The Club Group, said the company has been "totally cooperating" with authorities.

The finances

Gerwing, 54, kept the books for the Calverts' businesses until last year, when the couple decided to bring the work in-house. People close to the Calverts say the couple had uncovered financial irregularities, an accusation consistent with The Club Group's audit, which began shortly after Gerwing's death.

According to the audit, Gerwing put the money he stole from the eight clients, who included the Calverts, into a secret, personal checking account.

Mark King, president of The Club Group, met with the clients and presented a plan to repay them by liquidating Gerwing's estate, which includes a $1.2 million home in Columbia, a $430,000 home in Hilton Head Plantation and a boat.

Additional repayment will come from selling off some assets of The Club Group and from some of King's personal assets, the company has said.

The Calverts, who split time between a house in an expensive Atlanta neighborhood and a yacht in Harbour Town, disappeared March 3 after meeting with Gerwing.

Their car, a 2006 Mercedes, was found later that week parked at the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa in Palmetto Dunes, about six miles from where they were last seen.

John Calvert, 47, owns four island businesses, including one that operates the Harbour Town Yacht Basin and another that rents 125 vacation properties.

Elizabeth, 45, was a former vice president in United Parcel Service's legal department.

Gerwing, a gourmet and world-traveler, was found dead in the blood-spattered bathroom of a condo where he moved after his home, cars and office were searched by authorities.

His body was found in the bathtub next to a serrated steak knife.

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