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

DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995                   TAG: 9501260110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`TOP 10' DAD ARRESTED IN FLA.

A dad who the state says owes more than $12,000 in support to a child in the Roanoke area has been located again - and this time, state and federal officials don't plan to let him slip away.

James D. Murphy Jr., listed as one of Virginia's top deadbeat parents for 1994, was arrested by FBI agents in Bradenton, Fla., Wednesday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Campbell said.

He has been charged with willfully failing to pay child support. His will be one of the first federal child-support cases enforced by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke.

The state's Division of Child Support Enforcement has pursued Murphy for several years in an attempt to collect the past-due child support.

Late last year, after finding out while living in Niagara Falls, N.Y., that he was listed among Child Support Enforcement's ``Top 10 Most Wanted,'' Murphy telephoned the state and made arrangements to resume the court-ordered payments.

Two weeks later, he disappeared again without paying a cent.

Murphy was ordered in 1990 to pay $290 a month in child support. He has not paid since July 1991 and now owes $12,639.

Campbell said Murphy, who was working as a dog trainer in Florida when the FBI caught up with him, will be brought to Roanoke to face the charges against him.

Murphy faces a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

This is the first year that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke has enforced the federal child-support statute enacted two years ago.

by CNB