By Tribune News Service
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George Zinn, the Utah man who falsely confessed to killing Charlie Kirk moments after last week’s fateful shooting at Utah Valley University, now stands accused of felony sexual exploitation of a minor.
The Provo Police Department arrested Zinn last Wednesday after he loudly stated he was responsible for assassinating the 31-year-old right-wing activist, allowing “the actual suspect to flee and to hinder law enforcement”, according to a Tuesday statement from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
After being uncooperative with authorities, Zinn was taken to an area hospital for an unspecified medical problem.
Once there, he agreed to speak with an FBI agent and a state official, to whom he admitted he was not the shooter but yelled that he was to give the suspect time to flee the scene.
During the same interview, Zinn allowed the agents to search his phone, at which point he allegedly confessed that he used it to view sexually explicit material involving children. That turned out to be true, officials said.
“Several images” of young girls were found on the device, prompting the agents to turn over the investigation to the Utah County Special Victims Unit.
On Monday, law enforcement officials obtained a warrant for Zinn’s phone and identified more than “20 images of children ranging from five to 12 years old in various stages of undress and sexual posing”.
A preliminary review of the device also turned up evidence that the material was shared with other parties.
The 71-year-old defendant now faces four second-degree felonies for sexual exploitation of a minor. He has also been charged with obstruction of justice for claiming he killed Kirk while the real gunman, believed by prosecutors to be 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, made his escape.
Authorities have released no information indicating a connection between Robinson and Zinn.
Zinn is familiar to locals as a provocateur known to disrupt high-profile events including the Sundance Film Festival, according to public radio station KPCW.
The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has not returned a request for comment.
