Alleged ‘Deadbeat Dad’ Is Returned

An alleged “deadbeat dad” who authorities said owes more than $75,000 in back child support was transported to Ventura County Jail on Thursday after his arrest in Washington state, according to the district attorney’s office.

Former Oxnard resident Ismael Ochoa Lopez, 32, was arrested Tuesday at a construction site in Puyallup, Wash., said Stan Trom, director of the Ventura County district attorney’s Child Support Division. Local investigators were assisted in the case by officials from the D.A.’s office in Pierce County, Wash.

Ventura County authorities had been looking for Lopez since 1993, when he allegedly violated probation and failed to pay court-ordered child support. His picture was included on a “Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents” poster produced by the district attorney’s office. An anonymous tip from someone who had seen Lopez’s picture on the poster led authorities to Washington, Trom said.

The money owed for Lopez’s child, who still lives in Oxnard, puts Lopez in the upper 25% of all cases under investigation by the Child Support Division, Trom said. “It’s a substantial amount.”

Some parents have owed more than $100,000; the average amount unpaid is $11,000, according to Trom. There are currently 34,000 cases of parents not paying child support under investigation by the D.A.’s office, he said.

On Wednesday, Lopez waived extradition in Pierce County Superior Court. He was brought back to California on Thursday and was to be booked into Ventura County Jail on Thursday night, a jail spokeswoman said.