Local man takes on IRS over seized motor home

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March 26, 2008

By BOB GIBBINS

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — Ask practically anyone how to win a fight with the Internal Revenue Service, and you’ll be told it can’t be done.

But James Sego III is apparently trying to prove that’s not the case.

On Monday afternoon, Sego filed a suit seeking an injunction against the agency, referred to it as an “administrative office of the U.S. government.”

Sego alleges the agency wrongfully levied against a 1996 Winnebago motor home. A judge has blocked the auction of the vehicle.

Sego bought the motor home from Timothy Peterson on Sept. 28, 2007. His suit contends he borrowed funds from the Bank of Cherokee County to purchase the motor home, and allowed a lien to be filed against the property to protect the bank’s interest in it.

Sego’s suit alleges Peterson is the subject of a tax levy by the IRS, although the IRS failed to file a tax lien on the property to protect its interest against subsequent purchasers. The IRS seized the motor home on Feb. 6, and Sego filed a claim for an administrative wrongful levy on Feb. 15.

The suit states the IRS denied the wrongful levy claim by phone to A.J. Garcia, Sego’s attorney, on March 24, and scheduled the property to be auctioned Tuesday, March 25.

Sego states his interest in the property will be severely damaged, if the property is sold at auction.

An emergency injunction was granted Monday afternoon, prohibiting the sale of the Winnebago motor home pending a determination of Sego’s claims in the U.S. District Court in Muskogee.

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