A wife's affair led to Ohio tax agents targeting business owner, inspector general says

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WCMH) -- Criminal investigators from the Ohio Department of Taxation have been fired after trying to improperly hit a Chillicothe business owner with legal trouble, according to the Ohio Inspector General's Office.

Agents Matthew Shell and Mandowl Nixon were both terminated from their jobs on Dec. 15 and could face potential criminal charges. The inspector general's office accused the pair on Tuesday of filing misdemeanor charges and a tax return citation for their own personal interests.

The charges and citation were a collaborated plot between the agents. The pair made the plan sometime in August 2023 after a police officer told Shell that the officer's wife was having an affair with the business owner they targeted, according to the inspector general's office. The business owner was required to file sales tax returns on a semiannual basis, and Shell and Nixon had determined he missed a deadline in July.

The business owner wasn't on the department of taxation's delinquency list, and so as part of the plan Shell and Nixon checked state records on the man to find his missed deadline. The pair of agents improperly accessed both the STARS and the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway databases, which contain confidential business tax information and crime evidence respectively. The inspector general's office said the main issue was that the tax agents looked information up in these databases for personal interests rather than a criminal investigation.

An audit administrator from ODT told investigators that the citation they issued was found improper, because the department typically gives business owners or taxpayers notice of a missed deadline 30 days after the due date. After that, they get another 30 days to respond either by challenging or paying their tax bill. Nixon and Shell cited the business owner on Sept. 1 while taxpayers in the same situation would normally have until Sept. 21.

The inspector general's office sent its findings to the Franklin County Prosecutor, the Ohio Ethics Commission and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for review. While it normally posts a response from the involved agency with its reports, the Ohio Department of Taxation had not provided one for the inspector general's website.

However, ODT gave a statement to NBC4 on Wednesday regarding the findings.

"Once aware of the allegations, the department acted swiftly and conducted a thorough internal investigation regarding this matter," the government agency wrote. "As of December 2023, these two individuals no longer work for taxation."

Read the full report from the Ohio inspector general's office below: