Clermont Cracking Down on Child Support Delinquents
July 28, 2006
News Release
Clermont Cracking Down on Child Support Delinquents
Batavia, Ohio. Clermont County is once again preparing to celebrate National Child Support Awareness Month which takes place across the country in August of every year. During the month, the Child Support Enforcement Division is planning a Round Up of our Most Wanted payors who are being sought on outstanding bench warrants for failure to appear for scheduled hearings or for failure to report to jail. To highlight three of the agency's Most Wanted, Clermont County CSE added flyers to the county Water and Sewer bills to be mailed in the months of July and August. On these 44,000 flyers appeared pictures of three individuals who have been indicted on felony non-support charges and who owed a combined, $67,898.00 in child support. The agency is also planning a publication to appear in the local media which requests help from the public in finding 30 of our most wanted, 11 of which have been indicted on criminal charges and who owe a combined $228,134.00 in child support. These publications bring to the forefront the importance of the criminal non-support program that has existed in Clermont County since 1996.
In 1996, the Clermont County CSE began making referrals to the Prosecutor's office in an effort to increase collections on some of the agency's most difficult cases. These cases generally involve those payors who haven't paid in years, if at all, and who often times suffer from at least one intervening problem such as substance abuse, unemployment, or seasonal employment, that prevents them from paying their child support. The program has been very successful because of the hard work and support of the Clermont County Prosecutor's Office, Probation Department, and the Court of Common Pleas. As our annual collections on these cases approach one million dollars, the importance of this program to the children of our community cannot be understated.
"This Court is aggressive with identifying a plan for payment and closely monitors compliance," says Judge William Walker, Clermont County Common Pleas Court. "We understand the importance of the child support to the custodial parents in these situations, and the Court's objective is to ensure these defendants begin making payments."
For more information, please contact Theresa Bechtel Ellison, Lead Attorney, Clermont County CSE at 513-732-7429.