Politics & Government
Michigan Dad Arrested For Over $100K In Back Child Support
With the help of Attorney General Dana Nessel, a struggling Michigan mother and her children will receive years worth of back child support.
LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel this week announced the successful collection of $111,453 in child support owed to a Genesee County family. There was an arrest made internationally, too, her office announced.
The family was left impoverished in 1992 after the wife fled her abusive husband seeking refuge at a battered women’s shelter. The husband escaped with all of the family’s possessions, including the children’s clothes and toys, her office said.
After consistently failing to make child support payments, the Michigan Attorney General’s office tracked the father to the U.S. Virgin Islands where he had been in hiding for several years. Nessel’s office worked with the U.S. Customs officials to have the man arrested at the St. Thomas U.S. Virgin Islands airport.
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“We take great pride in bringing deadbeat parents to justice and collecting the child support payments vulnerable families are owed,” Nessel said. “Those seeking to shirk their responsibility as parents should heed this warning: This office will do everything we can to find you and make certain your families are properly supported.”
This brings the total past-due child support payments collected by the office this year to nearly $4 million.
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Failing to pay child support is a felony in Michigan and the Attorney General’s office regularly pursues deadbeat parents across the nation to collect payment on Michigan-enforceable support orders.
Rather than enduring extradition back to Michigan to face charges of felony Failure to Pay Child Support, the father paid the entire amount in past-due child support payments.
Criminal Failure-To-Pay Child Support cases are handled by the Attorney General’s Child, Elder & Family Financial Crimes Division. The Division aggressively tracks down parents, especially those with a history of domestic violence, who fail to support their children. The Division collects millions of dollars in back child support each year for children and their parents and guardians.
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