UPDATE on Elvis' Friend wants gold jumpsuit back

Read about the auction here.  What would you pay for Elvis' hair?

The entry below was posted by the Bar-tender on 10/16/09:

The estate of a man who was supposedly a personal friend of Elvis Presley is suing the man's caretaker for stealing collectibles, including Elvis' gold jumpsuit.

According to the complaint, Sterling Gary Pepper was a personal friend of Elvis Presley (misspelled "Pressley" throughout the complaint) and President of his fan club, known as the Tankers.  Over the years, the complaint states, Presley gave Pepper various items, including "a gold jumpsuit with a black collar, hair of Mr. Pressley, a 1957 Chevy automobile, clothes worn by Mr. Pressley, and numerous articles of fan club and personal memorabilia including autographed photographs of celebrities such as Marilynn Monroe and Clark Gable."

The plaintiff John Tate, described as Pepper's closest relative, asserts that Pepper had cerebral palsy and Elvis Presley hired Nancy Pease Whitehead to care for him.  But, after Presley's death, when it was clear Whitehead would no longer be paid, Pepper was moved first to a home in Iowa and then to California to be near his relatives.  After Pepper arrived in California, Tate went to Pepper's home in Tennesee and realized that all of his belongings, including the memorabilia, had been removed by Whitehead.

For years, Tate did not know where the memorabilia had gone until learning of the recently scheduled auction by the other defendant named in the lawsuit, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.  Now, Tate is suing for, among other things, restoration of the property at issue.

Read about the auction and see the clump of Elvis' hair here.

Read the complaint after the jump.

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