Minnesota Public Radio Sues Tower Partner

Plaintiff

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO is suing a ROCHESTER, MN company and its owner for misappropriation of at least $314,921 over the last decade, reports MPR NEWS.

The suit in RAMSEY COUNTY District Court alleges that UNITED AUDIO CORPORATION, licensee of Easy Listening KNXR/ROCHESTER, MN and owner THOMAS H. JONES partnered with MPR in SILVER CREEK TALL TOWER ASSOCIATES to build a tower and transmitter equipment in ROCHESTER, MN in 1985 and manage the property, leasing it out to other parties and accuses UNITED and JONES of "embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars and engaging in other accounting machinations designed to deprive the partnership and MPR of revenue." MPR alleges that JONES wrote checks from SILVER CREEK to his other companies, failed to pay UNITED's share of electric bills, and overstated the value of assets and services, all discovered after an IRS action against JONES and an investigation by MPR into the matter.

MPR, through Director of Communications ANGIE ANDRESEN, told MPR news, "We are not only extremely disappointed that someone - who once had been a trusted partner -- has embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from our partnership, but also disappointed that he refused to negotiate a settlement to re-pay the damages. As good stewards of our investments, we must account for this money and unfortunately, this legal action was our only recourse at this point."

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