61 Deadbeat Moms, Dads Rounded Up in Sweep, Sheriff Says

Written and reported by Bryan Littel.

Fifty-one men and 10 women were arrested last week by the Camden County Sheriff’s Department as part of a countywide effort to drop the hammer on child support dodgers, Camden County Sheriff Chuck Billingham announced Wednesday.

The three-day sweep, part of an effort in all 21 counties in New Jersey, hit only a small percentage of the total number of deadbeat parents in the county, but was still sent a message of accountability to those who owe child support money, Billingham said.

“These operations send a message in Camden County that you will not skip out on your obligation to your children,” Billingham said in a statement. “These arrests let everyone know that we mean business during these sweeps and skipping on your child support payment is no joke.”

Those arrested were wanted on a total of 87 active warrants, and owed a collective $1.54 million in support—including one man who owed a total of $194,000 on four different warrants but was able to put up just $320 toward that backlog, authorities said.

Others were able to pay off more than that on what they owed, including one man who paid off $5,000 of a $25,000 child support bill, authorities said.

The bulk of the arrests—34 in all—came in the city of Camden itself, which authorities said has a higher volume of child support warrants. The other 27 arrests were spread across the county’s suburbs, but authorities didn’t have a breakdown of arrests by town.

Besides child support arrests, sheriff’s officers also charged two offenders with resisting arrest and another, who authorities said had 36 bags of crack on him, for possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

The 61 arrests only put a small dent in the county’s overall warrants for child support offenses, which stand at a total of 2,147, authorities said. There are an additional 3,000 to 5,000 other warrants for criminal offenses.

 “The statewide sweeps have an impact,” Billingham said. “After bringing a busload of dead beat dads to the jail for processing these individuals know that they can’t run or hide from supporting their family.”