Posted on 05/01/2008 6:17:27 AM PDT by sickoflibs
Five defendants were driving from Howard Circuit Court when deputies arrested them on charges of driving with suspended licenses because of delinquent child support payments, said the Howard’s Sheriff’s Office.
“I think they were shocked,” said Lt. Charles Gable, sheriff’s office spokesman, referring to the arrests that occurred Friday and Monday.
“We got all kinds of reactions; the first person we pulled over was like, ‘Wow.’ ”
The defendants are John Porterfield, 43, of Columbia; Denee Powell, 43, of Silver Spring; Riko Johnson, 26, of Annapolis; Craig Myers, 44, of Highland; and Renard Whitehead, 41, of Bowie.
The maximum sentence for driving with a suspended license is a $500 fine and two months in jail, Gable said.
All were released pending a June 26 Howard District Court trial.
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration can suspend the driver’s license of any noncustodial parent who has not complied with court-ordered child support for more than 60 days, according to state law.
The Howard Sheriff’s Office received complaints from county child support officials who believed some defendants were driving themselves to and from Circuit Court for child support contempt hearings.
“I guess they never thought someone would actually check to see if they were driving,” Gable said.
The sheriff’s office cross-checked driving records with the court docket and set in motion a plan to arrest the defendants if they tried to drive themselves, Gable said.
A courtroom deputy watched the defendants leave the hearing and then described their clothing to a second deputy standing watch outside.
That deputy observed the defendants get into cars and then notified a third deputy waiting on Courthouse Drive, Gable said.
When the defendants turned onto Courthouse Drive, they were stopped and arrested on charges of driving while suspended as well as some for failing to wear seat belts, Gable said.
Well, that is certainly going to get the child support payments flowing...
Idiotic. How are they supposed to get to work?
RE :”I’m tired of paying to support other men’s children”
Correction, “other women’s children” Remember that unilateral right to terminate that only the mothers has? Well now they, not the children, get a 18 year payoff for getting pregnant or breaking up the marriage ,and the fathers are criminals and slaves to the government.
And we can flip that argument around to how are women supposed to feed their children when the dads won’t pay their court ordered child support. I’m sorry, but these guys don’t have my sympathy. My former son-in-law can’t manage to pay his child support in Maryland and works as a carpenter under the table, BUT can afford to take his girlfriend on a vacation to Florida. He definitely deserves to have is drivers license suspended AND thrown in jail. His having to “worry about how to get to work” is of minimal concern when my daughter has to worry about paying her bills every month and the rest of the family is constantly having to chip in to help out ...
You’re calling for abortion? Gimme a break - I’ll bet everyone of these deadbeats was married at the time of birth... Real men take care of their own.
A little jail time might be good, but you can’t make money to pay child support without a car to get work.
RE :”You’re calling for abortion? “
I am saying the men have no rights, only what you call responsibility, which slavery to the government.
RE :”Gimme a break - I’ll bet everyone of these deadbeats was married at the time of birth... Real men take care of their own”
Even worse, the government offers the mother 18 years of the paycheck for breaking up the family, the father has no say about taking care of anyone, the same courts separate him from his children that take way his license and throw him in jail. One reason, No Fault Divorce for parents reward those who break up the family.
In your rage against men don’t forget there are plenty of worthless mothers who don’t use a cent of child support on their kids or have lost custody of them to their fathers and don’t pay a dime of support.
Look, I’m retired now - but I supported my children and I don’t need your pathetic defense of men who won’t do the same. No, I don’t want to take care of your children. I want you to support your own kids. Is that really too difficult to understand?
A DL should be dependant on the ability to control a vehicle only, not any of this extraneous BS.
RE :” Is that really too difficult to understand?”
It’s very simple. The law makes the women only entitled to the money without review, not the kids, so it’s just a bribe and not a coincidence that middle class single momhood has skyrocketed since this started in early 90s. That’s the program!
The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration can suspend the driver’s license of any noncustodial parent who has not complied with court-ordered child support for more than 60 days, according to state law.
Kind of like double-secret probation, I guess...
That’s why Ron Paul was against National ID, it would be used to punish fathers like licenses and passports are now (the one thing I agreed with) .
BTW: Maryland DOES give licenses to illegals.
What is not understandable is a system that allows mothers to deprive their kids of resources even though the funding for those resources has been mandated by a court.
As I alluded to in my prior comment, child support is a two way street and in many cases it’s not just men who are at fault for not providing for their kids.
I’d be willing to put money on the percentage of custodial fathers receiving welfare due to a non child-support paying spouse being significantly less than the same for mothers.
Moving to another state won’t help you. Wonder how many of these guys will lose their jobs because they can’t get to work? How is the state going to extort money from them then?
And if he doesn’t pay up the nanny state will ground him and take away his TV and phone privileges.
“A DL should be dependant on the ability to control a vehicle only, not any of this extraneous BS.”
I fully agree with you. I don’t want to get into the emotional and legal issues of divorce and child support but I think we should all be concerned about this trend of the state using driver licenses to force “desirable social behavior”. I don’t know if this is actually happening but I know states had discussed suspending driver licenses for kids who drop out of school, for instance.
Driving is a privilege but the necessity of driving is too dependent on “state behavior”. Perhaps in urban areas one can get along fairly well without a vehicle but try it in the rest of the country where driving is often necessary because of lack of mass transit or lack of decent jobs near affordable homes. So a state (and I am including local government entities in the catch-all “state)) can basically force driving with its zoning and mass transit policies and can force social behavior by withholding the driver license.
As you say, a driver license should be contingent solely on driver ability and history. It should be, like voting, a right which can only be withheld on factors directly related to driving ability and road safety. Anything less and we are opening ourselves up to social engineering by the state for the next “good idea”. Being from California I can easily see our loopy regulators deciding that smokers or obese people or those with too many children should lose their licenses. Far fetched? Not on the Left Coast.
(but you can’t make money to pay child support without a car to get work.)
They wasn’t paying it anyway!
No sympathies from me.
Won’t get a cent...then the state/county involved sends them to jail for non-payment of support, during which incarceration they continue to accrue unpaid support, which they still can’t pay and for which they then become eligible for more jail time...there is no intelligent design operating here.
“Maryland prides it’self for giving illegals drivers licenses so these guys only need to learn spanish to drive legally again.”
The state is knowingly giving licenses to federal criminals.
You are right on the money! Except....
Except when you say that “driving is a privilege.” That’s the state’s claim which allows it to coerce its preferred behavior under color of law. And it’s that claim which defeats every (reasonable and well-stated) argument you just made.
To grant the state the authority to package our freedoms as mere “privileges” to be doled out by magnanimous masters, to accept the state’s claim that “driving is a privilege, not a right,” is to lose the fight before it has even begun.
Idiotic. How are they supposed to get to work?
++++++++++++++++++
By supporting their kids would be a start.
The County of Los Angeles likes to try and garnish my wages every couple of years. Why? Because I happen to have the same first name and last name of some SoCal deadbeat that they can't find. This is a great system we have going here.
Full disclosure: I faithfully paid child support to my drug-addled slut ex for 12 years.
True. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I have railed against classifying driving as a privilege; however, that is apparently the ruling of the Supreme Court IIRC so until it is overturned, it is the law of the land. It ought to be a right, subject to forfeiture under very limited circumstances, like voting.
No, the real outrage is people like you who vote for idiotic politicians who make it the responsibility of the state to pay for the children of irresponsible people, or anyone else who manages to sneak across the border. If it wasn't for our socialist government, we wouldn't have an illegal emigration or welfare problem. If you want to be outraged, be outraged at yourself because you are the problem.
“His having to “worry about how to get to work” is of minimal concern when my daughter has to worry about paying her bills every month and the rest of the family is constantly having to chip in to help out ...”
Perhaps your grandchild should go live with his/her father and your daughter should pay child support to him instead? Sound reasonable?
Poor guys?
They sound like guys who make bad decisions - daily.
So you are not interested in them paying any money for child support, you just want to punish them. Good thinking sport. Bad grammar though.
“By supporting their kids would be a start.”
Impossible to support their kids if they can’t get to work. Guess you didn’t think of that huh?
(Good thinking sport.)
Thank You!
(Bad grammar though.)
Awww, have i upset the grammar Queen?
You obviously have never dealt with a dead-beat dad. If you think it would be healthy to send my granddaughters to live with an alcoholic, who drives while drinking, used to spend the money he refused to pay for their medical insurance on strippers (thereby letting the state of Maryland pay for their coverage), and pushed them off on his aunt and uncle when he did have visitation. Sound reasonable?????????
Of course, it’s ALWAYS the woman’s fault.
Let me know if I need to ping (rolling my eyes to the point I could part my hair without a mirror).
I don't want to pay for the illegals - or the children of irresponsible men. Can you give me one reason why I should be forced to support your children ? Just one reason...
Oh, I’d say this is definitely a W ‘re E ping. :p
“Can you give me one reason why I should be forced to support your children ? Just one reason...”
You think that the government is responsible for supporting the children of irresponsible people. That is why you should be forced to support the children of irresponsible people. BTW, I don’t have children.
But it's not too late to learn.
Here's my suggestion - in the future don't have sex with women until you understand what causes pregnancy and how to prevent it. If your problem is that you believe every woman who tells you she's on birth control actually is, then take a course in human relationships and find out by your so gullible.
I don't mean to sound harsh with you, but many of us are not interested in supporting your children ... or putting up with your anger when we don't agree with you. Which, by the way, might be another problem you have with women. Talk to other men in your family - those with good relationships - see what you can learn from them. Your life can get better - and it will - - as soon as you start taking responsibility for it...
You sound so bitter.
A few comments:
***The state uses extortion tactics like suspended drivers licenses, intercepting tax refunds, filing credit reports in order to collect child support.***
I suppose that “extortion tactics” as you say are better than simply hauling your deadbeat in violation of a court order arse to jail.
***If your ex wife inherits a million dollars while you’re living in a shack and making child support payments - well, that’s just too bad for you.***
Yeah, it must suck to have to actually support your kids. Let’s change your scenario a bit: Your ex marries a millionare and you are forced to live in a shack and make your payments. My reply: It must suck to actually support your kids and not pawn them off on some other man.
***Conversely, if your ability to pay is diminished by unemployment or changing market conditions, well that’s too bad for you too.***
Sucks, don’t it. Just shows that you better be careful where you stick your tool. Nobody forces men to father kids. It’s not like you don’t have a say.
Yeah, ok. I can tell I’m talking to someone who has no idea what they’re talking about.
“get a job and support your own kids. “ “I don’t mean to sound harsh with you, but many of us are not interested in supporting your children ..”
LOL What part of “BTW I don’t have children.” do you not understand?
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