George Zinn, a 71-year-old man who falsely claimed he shot Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk during the Utah Valley University shooting, was sentenced to 0-15 years in prison, respectively, on sexual exploitation[s] of minor[s] and obstruction of justice, after pleading guilty on January 29, 2026. A separate theft charge was dropped. The parole board will determine how long he actually serves.
Here’s what he was sentenced to:
Two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor (second-degree felonies): For these charges, he received two terms of 1 to 15 years in prison.
Obstruction of justice (third-degree felony): He pleaded no contest to this charge and was sentenced to 0 to 5 years in prison.
All three prison terms were ordered to run concurrently, meaning hisminimum sentence is one year and his maximum potential time is 15 years in prison, though a Utah parole board will ultimately decide how long he remains incarcerated.
Zinn’s sentencing came after police discovered child sex abuse material on his phone when he was detained at the scene of the shooting and after he admitted to lying about being involved in the shooting — acts that diverted law enforcement’s attention from the actual suspect.
After he was arrested, he was taken to a hospital for chest pain, Zinn told an officer that day that"he was glad he said he shot the individual so the real suspect could get away,"according to a police booking affidavit…
While officers were conducting an investigation, they asked to look at his phone, andZinn admitted that the phone contained child pornography, according to police.
Officers originally booked Zinn on a second-degree felony charge of obstruction of justice. However, as part of their investigation, agents with the FBI and Utah State Bureau of Investigation went through Zinn's phone, where they reportedly found 20 sexually explicit images of children and "several very graphic sexual text threads" where Zinn shared images with other people.
Zinn was then charged with four counts of second-degree felony sexual exploitation of a minor.
As part of his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop two of the sexual exploitation of a minor charges and lessen the obstruction charge on the Charlie Kirk murder from a second to a third-degree felony.
Part of the plea deal also included the dismissal of a separate charge filed in January 2025 for theft, a class B misdemeanor.
Zinn has been arrested and charged numerous times over the past 30 years, primarily for trespassing in political spaces, according to state court records. He also made headlines in 2013 after he was charged with making a threat of terrorism after sending an email asking if Salt Lake City Marathon organizers "needed anybody to help place bombs near the finish line."
Zinn's plea statement said he approached a detective at the Charlie Kirk event, after the murder, and said, "I shot him, now shoot me." me."
When asked where the gun was, Zinn refused to say and repeated his request for the officer to shoot him. The detective then placed Zinn into handcuffs, while multiple people around him made threats against him.
Investigators determined that Zinn did not shoot Kirk, but his statements diverted the attention of multiple officers who could have otherwise worked to secure the scene and find the actual shooter.
Video of the officer taking Zinn into custody spread quickly online, causing many to believe that the shooter had been arrested.
https://www.ksl.com/article/51440384/utah-man-who-falsely-claimed-he-shot-charlie-kirk-sentenced-to-prison
www.ksl.com/article/51440384
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