Woman’s Suit Alleges Man She Wed Is a Female

SANTA ANA — An Orange County woman alleges in a lawsuit that the man she married in Las Vegas a year ago turned out to be a woman.

Correen Esther Zahnzinger contends in the suit filed last week that her former mate is refusing to make monthly payments on a $300,000 settlement that was supposed to compensate her for being hoodwinked.

Zahnzinger is asking an Orange County Superior Court judge to order Valerie Inga of Santa Ana to honor the agreement.

According to court papers, the couple met in February 1994. They were married in Las Vegas on March 21, 1996, but separated seven months later.

Zahnzinger’s lawyer, Steven Zwick of Santa Ana, said Tuesday that the first question he asked his client is whether she had a sexual relationship with Inga.

“They did have sexual relationship, but I’m not allowed to say how it was perpetrated,” Zwick said. “It was explained to me, and I thought it was realistic.”

The marriage was annulled last March, according to court papers. Zahnzinger has since remarried.

Marlin Stapleton, a Tustin lawyer representing Inga, said in a letter to Zahnzinger filed in court that his client was not honoring the settlement agreement because it was “devised upon the notion of ‘blackmail’ on your part.” Inga already had made five monthly payments of $1,050 each to Zahnzinger under the settlement before consulting an attorney.

Stapleton declined comment Tuesday. In their settlement, the couple agreed that “their relationship shall forever remain private . . . and no party shall barter their rights to any media.”