Andrew Z faces new charges in Defiance

Andrew Zepeda appears earlier this year in Wood County Common Pleas Court in Bowling Green. THE BLADE Enlarge | Buy This Photo

DEFIANCE — Beleaguered ex-radio host Andrew Zepeda was back in a courtroom Friday.

Mr. Zepeda, 41, of Perrysburg was arrested just after noon Wednesday by Perrysburg police on a warrant from Defiance Municipal Court charging him with failure to appear in court there.

He was to have been arraigned April 8, but did not appear, on two first-degree misdemeanor charges of failure to permit tax commissioners to examine books, records, and papers to determine payroll, and failure to withhold or pay tax from employees of a restaurant he ran for a brief time in Defiance.

Perrysburg police said they arrested Mr. Zepeda at his home then took him to the Wood County jail. By 3:20 p.m., he had posted a $2,000 bond in Defiance Municipal Court and was released from jail.

Mr. Zepeda, who was to appear in municipal court at 10 a.m. Friday, faced felony charges in Wood County relating to the pizzeria he ran at Levis Commons in Perrysburg, Andrew Z's Sports Pizzeria, derived from his on-air moniker on his former morning show on WVKS-FM (92.5).

In February he pleaded guilty to failure to remit sales tax, theft, and complicity to breaking and entering, but Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry granted his motion for intervention in lieu of conviction. Mr. Zepeda was then ordered to undergo a chemical dependency evaluation and treatment, repay more than $40,000 in back sales tax to the state, and meet other requirements.