Cracking Down on Child Support Offenders
Press Release
March 7, 2003
Cracking Down on Child Support Offenders
Batavia, Ohio. Clermont County's Child Support Enforcement (CSE), a division of
the Department of Job and Family Services, is pleased to announce an overall
increase in the number of felony indictments for failure to pay child support
and an increase in the money that is collected for the children in these cases.
A child support case qualifies for felony charges when the person who has been
ordered to pay child support fails to meet that obligation for a total of 26 out
of a consecutive 104 weeks. In the past, Clermont County has been very
successful in prosecuting and collecting payments on these cases. In 2001, the
Common Pleas Probation Department collected over $482,000 in child support as a
result of the convictions of these payors. In 2002, the amount collected
increased to over $675,000. This is a 40 percent increase in one year.
In June of 2001, CSE initiated a specialized unit to handle only those cases
that qualify for criminal non-support. In 2002, 137 individuals were indicted
for failing to support their children. This is the second highest number of
indictments in the State of Ohio for a medium sized county. It is through a
cooperative effort among the Child Support Enforcement Division, the Clermont
County Prosecutor's Office, and the Common Pleas Court/Probation Department that
this program has become successful.
In one recent case, Child Support Enforcement was unable to locate a payor for
several years despite exhaustive efforts. The case was referred to the
Prosecutor's Office for criminal non-support and the payor was indicted. He
discovered that there was a felony warrant for his arrest and contacted the
Clermont County Prosecutor's Office to make arrangements to pay his arrearage in
full. It is results, such as these, that make the program so worthwhile.
If you have any questions regarding the criminal non-support program, please
feel free to call the child support office at 732-7248 during regular business
hours.