Oct. 03, 2007

They skipped out on their children so Westchester County made an example of them. And it worked so well, that the county is doing it again. Call it “Deadbeat Dads: The Sequel." You can see photos of deadbeat parents.

Today an ad appears in the New York Post targeting four dead beat parents who owe a total of $132,728 in court-ordered child support and have consistently dodged the county’s attempts to get them to pay. The ad is just like one that ran last October and resulted in dozens of calls to the Department of Social Services. That ad netted two of the four deadbeat parents pictured, as well as three others whose photos were posted on the county’s website. Four of the five deadbeats found – including one mom - have since paid back a total of $30,782.

County Executive Andy Spano said it was important for parents to take responsibility for their children, not just for the sake of the child, but for the sake of society. “When parents don’t pay child support, many families are forced to go on public assistance and the taxpayer ends up taking on that responsibility. Frankly, I just don’t understand how any parent could ignore their child. It sickens me.’’

Spano said the point was not just to find those dads featured in the ad, but to strike a little fear into others who haven’t paid. “When we ran this ad last year around this time, it was very successful,’’ he said. “Not only did we collect more than $30,000, but we had many calls from parents who saw the ad or heard about it, and wanted to pay their support before they appeared in an ad.’’

The ad that appears today says: Deadbeat Dads: Pay up or your face will be here next. It urges those who know the whereabouts of these dads to call 914-813-6378 or to e-mail csewebwestchester@dfa.state.ny.us

Westchester County has been recognized by the state as one of the top achievers for its success in tracking deadbeat parents and getting them to pay. So far this year - January-September - the county has collected $48 million in child support. Last year, the county collected more than $60 million.

Before Spano took office, the county’s Department of Child Support Enforcement had one of the worst rates of collection in the state. Now it has one of the best. Through aggressive enforcement, the county has been able to increase the amount it collects each year and has been recognized by the state for its achievements.

Spano said many families cannot support themselves without the extra income.

Westchester County Social Services Commissioner Kevin Mahon said that the Office of Child Support Enforcement, which is under his department, currently has 17,868 open cases. About 40 percent of these families are on public assistance.

Mahon said that the county has used every means available to collect money – garnishing wages, seizing tax refunds and lottery winnings and suspending driver’s licenses. In 2001, the county became one of three in New York to receive state funding to start a Joint Enforcement Team with the District Attorney’s Office to criminally prosecute deadbeats. The county collected $670,936 between November of 2005 and August of this year from the JET cases.

The ad program focuses on hard-to-find deadbeat parents. Those selected to appear in ads and on the website are people whom the county has been unsuccessful in finding through all other means. The 19 people featured on the website owe a total of $625,589, but that is only a fraction of the total amount actually owed by all deadbeat parents. DSS estimates that if all the back payments that were owed were ultimately collected it would total $150 million.

Meet the new crop of deadbeats who appear in today’s ad and on the website:

Juan Avelar
Last Known Address: 270 East 40th St., Brooklyn, NY 11232.
Owes: $10,614.29 (as of 9/21)
Avelar was ordered to pay $50 a week on 12/5/03 to support his now 8-year-old child, but has never paid.

Stephen Bekoetabiri
Last known adddress: 20 Warburton Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701.
Owes: $13,216.29 (as of 9/21)
Last Payment: 7/22/03
Bekoetabiri was ordered to pay $53 a month to support for his 13 year-old child, but paid nothing since 7/22/03.

Kerry Moran
Last Known Address: 1853 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701
Owes: $77,820.75 (as of 9/1)
Moran was ordered to pay $1,100 a month to support his now 9-year old child. He hasn’t paid since 3/18/05.

Joseph Muro
Last Known Address: 1560 Mayflower Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461
Owes: $31.077.73 (as of 9/21)
Last Payment Made: 10/25/05
Muro was ordered to pay a $120.00 per week in child support for his three children ages 20, 19 and 15. He has not paid since 10/25/05.

Elvin Avila
Last Known Address:159 S Lexington Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601
Owes: $8,862.79 (as of 9/14)
Avila was ordered to pay $142 every two weeks to support his 15-year-old. He hasn’t paid since 3/20/06.

Carl Jones
Last Known Address: 132 Franklin Avenue, Mount Vernon, NY 10550
Owes: $30,118.65 as of (9/21)
Jones was ordered to pay $61 per week to support his 20-year-old terminally ill child. He has not paid since 8/29/05.

Terrell Robinson
Last Known Address: 35 Waverly Street Apt 1,  Cattaraugus, NY 14719
Owes:  $37,908.75 (as of 9/21)
Last Payment Made: 1/04/06
Robinson was ordered to pay $65 a week to support his 10-year-old child. He hasn’t paid since 1/4/06.