SC: Man ordered to pay 28-year-old child support bill or go to jail

One of my favorite parts of this "news" piece is.. "Federal law carries a
maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for delinquent
child support payments that exceed $10,000."

Which, if this is at all accurate, then how come there aren't more men in
jail because of this law? Racking up a $10k debt is really quite an easy
thing to do with the way that the states tack on fees, interest and
penalties to any arrears that they have to deal with (which is all of them
if they ever got their way..).

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/san...n/13675964.htm
Man ordered to pay 28-year-old child support bill or go to jail
BY CLIF LEBLANC
Knight Ridder Newspapers
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The "ultimate deadbeat dad" got slapped Friday with a
$31,000, 28-year-old child support bill or 1 1/2 years in jail, but the
investigation of his faked death might turn into a federal case.

After years on the run, Johnny Sterling Martin, a 58-year-old with four
ex-wives and at least four children, wore a jail jumpsuit in a Lexington
County courtroom.

His first wife, Gayle Prince, stood and identified him as the man who
skipped out in 1979 on $4,000 he had been ordered to pay for their two
children, then 6 and 9.

Martin did not speak during the 10-minute hearing. Afterward, his
court-appointed attorney, Wayne Floyd, said he would ask Family Court Judge
Richard Chewning to reconsider his decision.

Martin believed his child support debt had been satisfied and did not make
the phone call reporting his death, Floyd said.

"I think he believed it had been taken care of some type of way," the lawyer
said. "But he didn't know anything about the death."

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said that after his arrest Tuesday,
Martin confessed to faking his death.

Authorities are continuing to investigate how Martin escaped from the
Lexington County jail and misrepresented his death. They also are pursuing
allegations of a $20,000 child support claim in Alabama, which is large
enough to possibly trigger a federal case.

Prince, 54, said after the hearing she doubts the family ever will see the
money. She wishes Martin was facing more jail time.

Martin's police record is six pages long and shows convictions for auto
theft, simple assault and drunken driving, according to the State Law
Enforcement Division.

Prince now dismisses the man she married at age 16 as, "not father material,
not husband material, not even relationship material."

"This should be the end of it for me," said Prince, who is remarried and
said the babies she had with Martin are now adults living out of state. "I
wanted closure because he deceived me and his children."

But ex-wife No. 2, Mary Martin in Birmingham, Ala., has told Lexington
deputies that Martin - whom she married three times - owes her $20,000 in
child support, Metts said.

Efforts to reach Mary Martin in Birmingham Friday were unsuccessful.

Metts said Mary Martin also told deputies her husband's father, Sterling
Martin, is the person who called Lexington Family Court a few weeks after
Martin escaped from the county jail and reported he had been stabbed to
death in a Birmingham barroom fight.

The elder Martin died May 5, 1999, at age 76 in Cumberland, N.C., said
sheriff's spokesman John Allard.

Mary Martin's allegation about the phone call is being sent to Alabama
authorities at the same time federal Health and Human Services investigators
are being notified of the $20,000 debt in that state, Allard said.

Federal law carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000
fine for delinquent child support payments that exceed $10,000.

Wife No. 4, Phyllis Anderson-Martin, 66, said she is awaiting a divorce next
month on grounds of adultery and habitual drunkenness.

"I'll just be glad to get the divorce final and get the Martin off my name,"
said Anderson-Martin of Conway, S.C., who attended Friday's hearing.

Prince turned Martin in on Jan. 11 after she found Lexington court documents
that claimed he was deceased.

Martin is back in jail - the one from which he escaped - under a $1 million
bond on escape charges, which carry up to a 15-year sentence.

When Prince discovered the court records, she knew he was alive and in
Myrtle Beach, S.C. Prince said she had dismissed his admission about the
April 8, 1979, escape as another one of her husband's lies.

In March 1979, Martin was jailed for a year by then-Lexington Family Court
Judge Frank Lever for not paying $4,120 in support.

After the escape, Martin moved to the Myrtle Beach area, where he lived
under his own name.

"He had the audacity to take up a new life under the same real name," Metts
said. "That's pretty brazen."

The sheriff characterized Martin as "the ultimate deadbeat dad. He went to
the trouble to fake his own death" to avoid supporting his children.

In court Friday, Martin's lawyer argued that Chewning had no authority to
reinstate the original child-support case because it had been dismissed by
Lever, who is deceased.

"That order was issued under false information or pretense," Chewning
replied. "He knew he owed child support and simply did not pay it."

Chewning ordered Martin to pay the original $4,120 plus an accrued $25,857
and a $1,000 fine or serve the remaining 330 days on his first sentence plus
six months on the new one.

Deputies investigating how Lever confirmed the reported death found no
records in the court files, Allard said.

"We don't know what the judge based his order on," the sheriff's spokesman
said. "That is a question that we probably will never be able to answer."

"Dusty" wrote in

One of my favorite parts of this "news" piece is.. "Federal law carries a
maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for delinquent
child support payments that exceed $10,000."

If that's the case, then I just better give up and go back home!
I just got here 3 years ago and my arrearage is $52,000 for one 9 year old
child.

"DB" wrote in message
. com...

"Dusty" wrote in

One of my favorite parts of this "news" piece is.. "Federal law carries a
maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $250,000 fine for delinquent
child support payments that exceed $10,000."

If that's the case, then I just better give up and go back home!
I just got here 3 years ago and my arrearage is $52,000 for one 9 year old
child.

Oh, my gosh, DB! How did that happen?!

"teachrmama" wrote in

If that's the case, then I just better give up and go back home!
I just got here 3 years ago and my arrearage is $52,000 for one 9 year
old child.

Oh, my gosh, DB! How did that happen?!

Easy, they had a CS trial in 2001 in the US here, I wasn't there because I
don't live in this country and was never notified!
I just immigrated here in 2003 and was arrested in the immigration office,
now I'm supposed to pay all this money with my $10/hr job!

Canada maybe cold, but it ain't that cold!!!!!

a friend of mines husband owed 18,000 if not more in child support. He
didnt pay a dime and her son was turning 18. he came to her all
apologetic and told her he and his new wife were getting a mortgage and
would include that on the mortgage if she signed the paper releasing
him from the debt.
The mortgage came and went. No money.

I couldnt believe she agreed. She is smarter than that, but he seemed
so sincere in his apologies for his delinquency in ever helping her out
with their son.

The man died in a hit and run accident outside a bar when he was
walking to a gas station to buy a cigar. His son then 19 was with him
when it happened He was 43 ;(

wrote in

a friend of mines husband owed 18,000 if not more in child support. He
didnt pay a dime and her son was turning 18.

So he only owed about $1000 per year?

he left when the boy was six or so... and quit every job he had.
Funny or not, right before the man was killed he started to make some
money finally.

How do you owe so much money?
How much is it per year? for how many years???

wrote in

How do you owe so much money?

I assume you are talking to me, but the calculations are from the day she
was born at $110/wk till now!
So on Nov/96, the cash register started ringing!

I did send the woman $300/ mth for the first 3 years until I lost my real
job, but that doesn't count according to CS laws.

I have nothing to gain but grief by staying in this country!

"DB" wrote in message
...

wrote in

How do you owe so much money?

I assume you are talking to me, but the calculations are from the day she
was born at $110/wk till now!
So on Nov/96, the cash register started ringing!

I did send the woman $300/ mth for the first 3 years until I lost my real
job, but that doesn't count according to CS laws.

It would have if you received receipts that had "Child Support" on them.
Well,...it did for me.



I have nothing to gain but grief by staying in this country!

DB, I would leave the country, seriously.