A mother is facing ten felony charges for failure to pay child support. At this point she owes more than $50,000, and if convicted on all ten of the charges she could face more than 23 years in prison.
The 33-year-old mother owes all of the child support for one child that she gave birth to in 1999. And while she owes money for different sporadic time periods since her divorce, the longest stretch of time is from September of 2006 to December of 2010 when she did not make a single payment.
The case stems back to 2002 when the woman’s now-ex spouse filed divorce papers against the woman. At that time she was ordered to pay $35 a month in child support for the couple’s son. In November of 2003 that monthly amount was modified to $400 a month in support payments.
According to sources, by July 2006 the woman was already having legal problems in terms of paying, and a contempt action was filed against her after she failed to make a payment. A few months later – in August of 2006 – a $1,100 payment was received by the state taking it from her paycheck. However, further attempts did not work when it came to withholding earnings from the woman’s paychecks.
The woman is accused of not making child support payments for the following dates:
- April 2002 to July 2003
- November 2003 to June 2006
- September 2006 to December 2010
In total the woman owes $50,628 in back child support and interest, and if she is convicted on all charges she could face up to 23 ½ years behind bars.
Source: Town News, “Woman faces 10 felonies for unpaid child support,” Dan Holtz, 24 March 2011
