ST. LOUIS -- An owner of Cape Girardeau's Zimmer Radio Group was sentenced to five years probation and fined $10,000 filing a false tax return, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Donald W. Zimmer, who owns the Zimmer Radio Group along with three brothers, was sentenced by Judge E. Richard Webber on Friday after having earlier pled guilty to understating his income by $49,376 in 1992.

His actual income that year was $331,773,. Zimmer owed an additional $16,438 in taxes based on his unreported income, federal attorneys said.

The maximum penalty under federal law is a $250,000 fine and three years in jail, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Zimmer's income tax problems arose from several lawsuits between him and former business partner Ed Eagleton, said Maurice Graham, a St. Louis attorney representing Zimmer.

Zimmer had been a part owner of LDD, Inc., a long distance telephone company. Eagleton, majority stock holder in LDD, filed lawsuits against Zimmer and members of his family in 1994 in relation to misuse of funds, ownership of company property, and other issues.

Zimmer ultimately prevailed in the lawsuits, Graham said.

In a prepared statement, Graham noted that Zimmer has paid 90 percent of the taxes he owed for 1992.

"After five years of cooperation with the IRS and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Don Zimmer determined it was best to put this matter behind him."