10 Indicted for Failure to Pay Child Support
By Franny White, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Aug. 6–PENDLETON — Ten parents and guardians who owed a total of more than $226,000 in child support were indicted by a Umatilla County grand jury Tuesday.
The 10 were indicted for criminal nonsupport, a class C felony under Oregon law. They owe a combined total of $226,347.53, according to a Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office news release.
The defendants are: Maria Guadalupe Barajas, Riverside, Calif.; Stephen Mark Winter, Pendleton; Ernesto Salinas, Weston, Ore.; David Allen Miller, of California or Washington; Brian Neil Talbott, Kenai, Alaska; Paul Thomas Heywood, College Place, Wash.; Richard Daryl Fuhrman, Lebanon, Ore.; Clark M. Lewis Jr., Sidney, Iowa; Randy Ezell Sr., Dixie, Wash.; and Zane Jose Draper, Pilot Rock, Ore.
“Children have the right to be supported by both parents,” said District Attorney Dean Gushwa in the release. “Our goal … is to let parents and children know that we are using every avenue available to make sure that children receive needed support.”
Deputy District Attorney Kate Beckwith said her office uses indictments as a last resort. Other legal ways to encourage child support payment include charging someone with contempt of court or taking away their driver’s license and passport.
The maximum penalty for criminal nonsupport is five years’ imprisonment and a $125,000 fine.
The indictments mean the grand jury felt there was sufficient evidence to charge. The defendants will now have hearings scheduled in Umatilla County Circuit Court, Beckwith said.
Although many of the defendants do not live in Oregon, their dependents lived in Umatilla County when the defendants failed to pay child support, Beckwith said.
—–
To see more of the Tri-City Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.tri-cityherald.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.