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Genetics firm owes county, feds cash

Taxes, stimulus loan in liabilities to be discussed at a hearing today.

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By Brandon Smith-Hebson, Staff Writer 9:53 PM Thursday, February 2, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — Federal and county governments are among the long list of creditors owed money by a nearly-bankrupt local business that stored livestock semen.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided about $536,000 in loans to the company, a Springfield News-Sun investigation revealed. The federal government wants its stimulus money back, but so do the business’ 84 other creditors.

The company stored the semen in slender “straws” frozen in liquid nitrogen. Genetic Connection had a facility at 5001 E. County Line Road that was bustling with business a few years ago, said people familiar with it.

Now the business’ owner has filed for bankruptcy protection.

It’s not clear how much the business owes on stimulus loans, but at least some of the balance remains outstanding because the Small Business Administration, the agency that disbursed the money, will send a representative to a bankruptcy hearing Friday.

The business also owes about $16,500 in property taxes, according to Clark County Treasurer Stephen Metzger.

This represents about 12 to 18 months of taxes, Metzger said.

The public creditors’ hearing is set for 10 a.m. at the U.S. bankruptcy court in Dayton.

Genetic Connection owner Roger Clark said he would not be there.

Clark incorporated the business from a residential address in Bloomville, in northern Ohio’s Seneca County. A call to Clark’s trustee at the U.S. Trustee’s Office was not returned.

Clark, in a phone interview, said he is negotiating to sell the business, which he said remains open.

“We are in the process of marketing the business and the assets,” he said. “We’re doing our just diligence to make sure all the creditors were taken care of.”

At least one former customer has had trouble retrieving semen stored at the business.

“It took me two months to get my semen back,” said Bud Marler, a Kentucky resident who says he had $25,000 worth of deer semen stored at the business. “They canceled at least 25 appointments for me to come pick it up.”

Clark said, “We’re taking care of our customers.”

Most of the business’ customers were from outside the region, if not out of the country, according to Mandy Havenar, director of the Clark County Farm Bureau.

“That’s not unusual for this industry, the genetics industry,” Havenar said.

One client from Switzerland is suing the company for around $600,000 in compensation, claiming negligence and breach of contract.

In September 2011, a former Genetic Connection employee, Karen L. Saum, pleaded guilty to stealing around $110,000 worth of bull semen in a liquid nitrogen storage tank from the facility in June 2011.

A judge has since delayed sentencing Saum, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

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