Arrest Warrants Served for Child-Support Delinquency

The Orange County district attorney’s office on Tuesday directed the arrest of 30 parents--some as far away as Stockton--who are delinquent in their child-support payments.

The action represents the second phase of the county’s child-support enforcement program, and had resulted in 18 arrests by Monday evening, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Patterson said.

Marshals from the district attorney’s family support division expect to take 86 offenders into custody by the end of next week.

“As long as we do have the warrant from the court we will make every attempt to serve it. We don’t give up the first time,” Patterson said. “We arrested a doctor at his practice in Orange County because he refused to come into the office or pay his child support. He was several thousand dollars behind.”

Turned Herself In

One woman turned herself in Tuesday after learning of the warrant for her arrest over the weekend, Patterson said.

Parents arrested for non-payment of child support are taken to Orange County Jail, and bail can be set from $750 to $2,000, Patterson said. Most of those taken into custody so far have given themselves up without protest.

“We have a number that do hide on us; they can see the car coming or they hear we have an arrest warrant because we’ve contacted their employers. But we’re persistent,” he said.

The five other counties participating in the pilot program will be acting on more than 200 warrants, said Linda Rushford, a spokeswoman for the state Health and Welfare Agency. At least 34 people have been arrested in Sacramento County, and 25 have been taken into custody or surrendered in Ventura County. Kern County investigators expect to make 100 more arrests than usual this month, she said.

One-Day Arrest Sweep

Two counties, Santa Cruz and Riverside, have not yet started the arrest phase of the operation, Rushford said.

Investigators in Santa Cruz County received 60 calls a week for the last two weeks from people wishing to claim amnesty or bring their child-support payments up to date. The Santa Cruz district attorney’s office is working on processing those requests. Those still delinquent will be arrested next Thursday in a one-day sweep, Rushford said.

John Reploge, a deputy district attorney from Riverside County, said that his office would begin to intensify efforts to arrest parents delinquent in child-support payments today and would continue through next Tuesday.

Rushford said the Health and Welfare Agency will soon begin a detailed analysis of the pilot amnesty program, but that it was already being considered a success.

“All the counties have increased their child-support collections and that’s the most important thing, that the money is getting to the children,” she said.