2009 Round-Up of Delinquent Child Support

Muskingum County parents delinquent on your child support authorities may be looking for you.

Tuesday and Wednesday the Domestic Relations Court, Child Support Division of Job and Family Services, Sheriff’s and Prosecutor’s Offices worked together in their 2009 round-up of more than 70 parents delinquent on their child support payments.

"This is a pretty rough time economically and we know there are at times legitimate reasons why someone might be having an issue, but if they don’t talk to us, if we don’t know what’s going on, then we have no choice but to pursue legal actions," says Vince Durant, deputy director Child Support Enforcement.

They are also prosecuting five additional parents who have been indicted on felony criminal non-support charges. Those parents have missed 26 weeks of payments or more in two-year-period. Authorities have apprehended 30-year-old Michael Baker and are actively searching for the four other individuals. In total those five parents are $170,000 behind in payments.

"They’re individuals who continually try to skirt around the system by moving and not advising the child support bureau of their addresses, they are very hard to find," says Prosecutor Michael Haddox.

Parents wanted for delinquent payments in criminal court, as well as those who failed to show in civil court Tuesday or Wednesday, now have warrants out for their arrest.

"We get it put into our LEDES computer so if somebody is stopped on a traffic stop or if one of our officers checks a driver’s license number or social security number it comes back with a warrant on it," says Sheriff Matt Lutz.

The Sheriff will have special deputies on duty the next few days to serve those warrants.

Collecting child support is an ongoing process throughout the year and the Child Support Enforcement agency would like parents behind on their payments to contact them at 455-7146 to learn more about special programs that are available to help.