Auction nets $167,000 from ex-broker's ill-gotten loot

A standing-room-only crowd showed up to check out the fire sale on an array of expensive toys she bought with ill-gotten loot stolen from her clients.

"I wanted to come see what she had," said Connie Crothers of Bothell. "I was hoping that she had a Lexus - that's what I'm shopping for."

Auctioneer Terry Moore of the James G. Murphy Co. said, "They were here for the Rhonda Breard stuff - and there were others who knew a little about the case, but the items that we were selling were very interesting to them."

A snowmobile was just the ticket for Bob Fox and his family.

Rhonda Breard

"A lot of stuff went pretty expensive. I think this was a pretty good buy," said Fox. "Nine hundred two miles on it - so it's barely even broke in. You can tell just by looking at it that everything's brand-new still."

"We'll be up on Blewett Pass first snowfall," he added.

Six snowmobiles were auctioned off altogether - all bought within the past two years. Other loot sold at the auction included four late-model Yamaha ATVs, a muscle car, a big four-by-four and three ski jets - plus trailers to tow all the toys.

The final take from Saturday's auction was $167,350, which will go to Breard's victims, minus an auction house commission.

It won't come close to reimbursing everyone - authorities estimate that she ended up defrauding about 47 victims of about $11 million. But it will help.

Breard was caught after a surprise audit by ING Financial Partners, which says it's working to reimburse all of her victims.

Breard ended up pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court and was sentenced to six years in prison.

She used the stolen money to buy three expensive homes, travel, jewelry, and more than two dozen vehicles.

She turned over $250,000 to the government, as well as the rest of her assets, but their value was not enough to cover how much she took from her clients' retirement, college savings and other investment accounts.