Jackson Free Press

For the second time this week, Hinds County sherriff's deputies locked the offices of a Jackson apartment complex on Wednesday.

Acting on a distressed property warrant from Hinds County Tax Collector Eddie Fair's office, county deputies mounted up after their weekly staff meeting and headed to the Audubon Grove Apartments at 3175 Robinson Road in Jackson. The property owner owes Hinds County $713,386 in personal property taxes and fees over a three year period, Fair told the Jackson Free Press Tuesday afternoon.

An Audubon Grove representative who answered the phone this morning said the company had no comment on the seizure except that the office is open and "has always been open."

A Hinds County records search reveals that Audubon Grove Apartments LLC, based in Palm Harbor, Fla., owns the Jackson apartment complex. The address Hinds County lists for the company is linked to a seven-bedroom rental home in Pinella County, Florida, with a pool that sold in 2004 for $795,000, according to real estate website Zillow.

Property records from Pinella County list the owner of the property as Marc W. Johnson. The Florida Secretary of State's office does not have a business filing for Audubon Grove LLC, but does have one for Apartment Advisors USA LLC, which lists Johnson as the agent. Apartment Advisors dissolved in May 2011, according to records.

A message left for Johnson at a number listed on records was not immediately returned this morning.

The Audubon Grove seizure was the county's second of the week. On Monday, the county seized the Highland Square Apartments located at 1595 West Highland Drive, also in Jackson. That landlord owed $29,543 to county taxpayers dating back to 2007, sheriff's officials said. A search of the address returned no results on the Hinds County website.

Fair said the seizures would have no effect on the tenants, who will continue to live there and pay rent, but the rental company will not be able to conduct business until it pays its taxes.

He called the back-to-back seizures a coincidence. A third apartment complex that Fair declined to name was also scheduled for seizure this week, but its landlord showed up on Tuesday and paid the bill.

"I guess they didn't want to be on the news," Fair said.