FULLERTON : Pawnshop Owner Sues IRS Agents

A Fullerton man has filed a $5-million lawsuit against two Internal Revenue Service agents, alleging that a videotape shows they wrongfully accused him of intimidating them with a handgun.

Chris H. Rowenhorst, 65, was arrested Jan. 23 at his pawnshop, Brown’s Fullerton Jewelry & Loan at 129 W. Commonwealth Ave., by two IRS agents and Fullerton police. He was jailed on suspicion of assaulting the IRS agents, Viola Mitchell and Tracy Brown, with a deadly weapon.

Rowenhorst said Tuesday that he owes the IRS $39,000 in back taxes, accumulated since 1984, and that Mitchell had asked him repeatedly for the payment. She asked him again about 2:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at his shop, and again he told her that he did not have the money.

According to a criminal complaint filed by the IRS with U.S. District Court, Mitchell told the pawnshop owner that she would seek permission from the court to seize his property. Rowenhorst raised his shirt above his waistband to show a handgun, according to the complaint.

“What do you want me to do, kill?” Rowenhorst said, according to the complaint. He also allegedly threatened suicide. The two agents tried to calm him and, concerned about the gun, walked out of the shop with their backs to the door, the complaint said.

The agents reported the incident to the U.S. attorney’s office, and Rowenhorst was arrested at 6 p.m. the same day.

But the U.S. attorney’s office dismissed the felony charges against Rowenhorst on April 4.

Rowenhorst, who has owned the pawnshop since 1977, alleges that a video camera in his store proves that he was wrongly accused.

The blurred videotape, seen by The Times, shows the IRS agents talking with Rowenhorst in the back of the store, while customers browse. The conversation cannot be heard, and the image is too vague to show whether Rowenhorst displays a gun. Mitchell and Brown then walk out of the store facing forward, calling back to Rowenhorst to “have a good day.”

The Fullerton man said he wears a revolver to protect his store but did not show it to the agents and did not threaten them with it.

“I only referred to the gun because I was upset,” Rowenhorst said. “I said to her, ‘Would you want me to shoot myself to collect the insurance?’ ”

The IRS agents told him to call their supervisor to arrange for payments and left the store, he said.

IRS spokeswoman Judith Golden declined to comment because the agency has not reviewed the lawsuit, which was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.