Zinn owed more than $80k on income taxes

Young Life cooperating with investigation, spokesman says.

A former Clark County auto dealer whose properties were searched by state agents earlier this month has liens on his home and owed more than $80,000 in unpaid state income taxes.

Documents in Clark County Common Pleas Court show judgments filed against Monte Zinn in 2010 and 2012 seeking unpaid income taxes of $65,491.78 and $17,142.25, respectively.

Ohio Attorney General spokesman Dan Tierney said Zinn sent checks for the full amount in recent days.

“The current balance is zero, pending the check clearing,” Tierney said.

Once the checks clear, the Attorney General’s Office will notify the county that the liens can be released, and Zinn will then have to file court documents requesting the liens be released, Tierney said.

While Zinn is current on property taxes at Monte Zinn Automotive Consulting, 1184 E. Home Road, he failed to pay $2,824 in first-half real estate taxes on his home at 2570 Myers Road by the Feb. 8 deadline, according to the Clark County Treasurer’s Office.

Because the bill was not paid on time, he has been assessed a 10 percent penalty and now owes $3,107, Clark County Treasurer Stephen Metzger said.

The Springfield News-Sun has attempted to reach Zinn for comment, but sources say he is currently in Fiji.

His attorney Jim Peifer did not return calls seeking comment on this story.

Local authorities assisted agents of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation as they searched Zinn’s home on Myers Road and his business, Monte Zinn Automotive Consulting at 1184 E. Home Road on Feb. 8.

Young Life, a non-denominational Christian ministry that has outreach programs for high school, middle school and college students, is also located at the Home Road location and was included on the search warrant.

Officials with the Colorado-based organization said on Tuesday that Young Life officials are cooperating with authorities.

“We can confirm that our offices were included in a recent search by authorities of Mr Zinn’s office. We have no reason to believe there was any reason for Young Life’s office being included in this search other than the proximity of our space to Mr. Zinn’s office,” Terry Swenson, a spokesman for Young Life, which was established in 1941 and has chapters nationwide and in 80 countries.

Court documents detailing the reason for the search and the items collected during the search were sealed by Judge Thomas J. Capper and cannot be viewed by the public.

Capper ordered the documents sealed for 30 days, or until an arrest is made or until another court order, according to court records.

“ … Disclosure of the facts contained in the affidavit in support of the search warrant application would be detrimental to the criminal investigation which is being conducted,” Capper wrote.

Zinn was the largest auto dealer in Clark County until he transferred all five auto franchises under the Monte Zinn name to the Cincinnati-based Jeff Wyler Auto Group in 2000.

The sale of the dealerships came after an immigration fraud case more than 20 years ago.

The Zinn investigation began in 1991 with a complaint from a Fiji exchange student that Zinn made unwanted sexual advances toward him. Zinn denied the allegations.

Zinn pleaded guilty to falsifying documents and using false information to help Fijian citizens illegally enter the United States and work at his dealership.

He was sentenced to two years probation in 1996.

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