
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994                   TAG: 9409060026
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

3 MOST-WANTED AREA DADS OWE NEARLY $60,000

The Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement released a "10 Most Wanted" list of the state's worst child-support evaders this week. It includes three fathers being pursued by the Roanoke office, all of whom have children in the Roanoke area.

They are:

James Dennis Murphy, Jr., 49, who owes $10,609 in support to one child. His last known address was Summerfield, Fla.

William Robert VanDyke, 40, who owes $33,268 in support to one child. His last known address was Cedar Bluff.

David Thomas Williams, 37, who owes $15,043 in support to two children. His last known address was Norcross, Ga.

The top 10 are not necessarily those who owe the most but have been identified as among the hardest cases to enforce. Their placement on the list does not mean they have been charged with a crime, though they could be.

In Virginia, failure to comply with conditions of a divorce decree, including paying child support, is a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of a $500 fine, confinement of 12 months, or both, said Leon Alder, regional administrator for the western regional office of the state Child Support Enforcement Division.

But few cases in Virginia result in criminal charges, he said.

"What we do is try to get a performance bond," Alder said. "It's much better than putting someone in jail." Performance bonds are used frequently in child-support and back-alimony cases to guarantee payment.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has pushed for federal prosecutors to focus on a 2-year-old federal statute that authorizes federal courts to pursue cases of parents who avoid paying child support by fleeing across state lines. Of Virginia's "10 Most Wanted," six have last known addresses out of state.

Alder met Monday with Robert Crouch, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, to set in motion plans to federally prosecute deadbeat-parent cases.

"What we will be doing is taking cases where they have exhausted administrative and judicial avenues on the state level and might be appropriate to prosecute on the federal level," Crouch said. "Basically we've begun our efforts this week. The Eastern District [of Virginia] began this as a pilot project last year."

At the federal level, willful failure to pay legal child-support obligations carries, on first offense, imprisonment of not more than six months and a fine of up to $5,000. On second and subsequent offenses, the parent faces imprisonment of not more than two years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Anyone with information regarding the "10 Most Wanted" is asked to call the state Division of Child Support Enforcement at (800) 257-9986.

by CNB