Ex-child support clerk pleads guilty

MERIDIAN -- Former Lauderdale County child support clerk Cindy Truhett has pleaded guilty to embezzlement of $216,000.

Truhett, 40, was the clerk for the Bank Plan, set up in Lauderdale and Clarke counties to collect child support from noncustodial parents and transfer it to custodial parents.

In a plea agreement, Truhett was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison, with four years suspended. She is to serve four years probation after her release.

The attorney general's office said the embezzlement occurred over a five-year period from 2002 to 2007.

"She accepted full responsibility. She's ready to pay the price for that and resume her life," said Truhett's attorney, Terry Jordan.

A bonding company has already repaid Lauderdale County the $216,000 that was embezzled. An audit is ongoing to determine if more money was taken.

The charges levied against Truhett were the result of a contempt case filed by Laura Main on April 23, 2007.

Main claimed that she made several attempts to contact Truhett when Main fell behind in receiving her support payments. Main further stated Truhett misled her in saying the "checks were in the mail."

"I'm going to tell you, I get no pleasure ... to see her family suffer, but people have to answer," said Main, who said $1,500 of her child support was embezzled.

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Va. sues Texas collection agency over child support payments

By Elizabeth Simpson
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 9, 2008

Virginia is suing a private child-support collection agency based in Texas for interfering with the state's collection efforts.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced the lawsuit on Friday.

In a news release, the state officials said the organization Supportkids Inc. sends wage-withholding notices to employers of parents who owe child support payments, and directs the employer to send payments directly to the company's office in Austin, Texas, rather than to Virginia's Division of Child Support Enforcement.

The private company charges parents who have custody of the children a 34 percent fee before forwarding the remainder of the payment, according to the state's news release. Under Virginia law, child support payments must be routed through the Division of Child Support Enforcement, a state agency.

Messages and e-mails to the Supportkids company asking for a response to the lawsuit were not immediately responded to on Friday.

Families typically turn to a private, for-profit child-support collection agency when the state has not been successful in collecting payments.

According to the Supportkids' Web site, the company has collected more than $360 million since 1991 on behalf of clients, making it the largest private child-support collection company in the country.

In the news release about the lawsuit, Kaine said Virginia's Child Support Enforcement agency collected more than $608 million last year for 484,000 children who are owed money.

Some parents and coalitions support the efforts of private agencies, saying they give parents more options in collecting money for their children.

Nick Young, director of the state's Child Support Enforcement agency, said the state has received complaints from employers and non-custodial parents who confuse the private company with the state support enforcement division.

He said in some cases, parents and employers are getting notices from both the state and the private agency. "Employers are calling us saying, 'Which one do we send it to?' " Young said.

Young said some child custody cases involve several children, and the private company might pursue collection for only one of the children at the expense of the others, which creates inequities. He said other attempts have been made to try to get the private companies to follow the state's legal requirements for child support payments, but this is the first time the state has filed a lawsuit.

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com

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Judge dismisses suit over non-lawyers signing motions

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the authority of non-lawyer staff members of the Division of Child Support Enforcement to sign motions to hold in contempt parents who are delinquent in their support obligations.

U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad ruled that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine deprives him of jurisdiction to decide the issue because the Virginia State Bar's Standing Committee on Unauthorized Practice of Law had rejected David B. Briggman's contention that the practice is the unauthorized practice of law.

The committee was acting in its judicial capacity, and, under the doctrine, a federal court has no jurisdiction to review and reject a state court judgment.

Conrad noted in Briggman v. Commonwealth (VLW 008-3-003) that Briggman still has the opportunity to challenge show cause motions and other pleadings filed by DCSE employees who are not attorneys. Briggman said he intends to refile his challenge to the practice in Rockingham Circuit Court.

Briggman contended in the
federal suit that DCSE lacks the authority to enforce thousands of such
orders because their filing by non-attorneys rendered them void ab
initio.

Kimberly J. Daniel, a juvenile and domestic relations district judge in Fairfax County, dismissed such a motion in October because it was not signed by an attorney.

Craig M. Burshem, a senior assistant attorney general who represents DCSE, said he disagrees with Daniel but does not want to run the risk that a DCSE employee could be charged criminally with the misdemeanor of practicing law without a license. One of the 45 attorneys who routinely represents the division will sign such motions, he said.

Burshem said the attorney general's office is considering its options, including submission of legislation to the General Assembly or a request for an amended rule of court, to address Briggman's argument and Daniel's ruling.

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Child Support Court May Be Link In Bomb Threats

Sheriff Rollins said the call just before 9 a.m. was made from the pay phone at the southwest corner of Main and Front streets, in front of the Santina's restaurant, which is closed until Friday. The sheriff said the caller was a man who said a bomb was located somewhere in the building.

The sheriff said there are still no suspects.

"Of course we are still investigating it, but right now we haven't made an arrest," he said.

He said part of the investigation involves the possibility that the same person who made Monday's threats could have been involved in similar threats in the last several weeks. The courthouse was cleared for similar bomb threats on Jan 7 and Dec. 4.

"That is always something you look at," he said. "This is getting to be a big mess for all of us and it needs to stop."

Harnett County Clerk of Court Dianne Hatley said all of the threats have come on days when child support enforcement court was in session, which may help investigators.

"That was the only court that was in session on all of those days so maybe that narrows it down a little," she said. "I understand they are investigating that possibility."

She said she hopes knowing where the threat came from will also help.

"I hope some good citizen will remember that they saw someone at that phone during that time and we can catch whoever is making these threats this time," she said.

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Court: Child support must be paid if graduation delayed

PHOENIX - Parents ordered to provide child support can't escape their obligation simply because the youngster can't graduate from high school in four years, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

In a unanimous decision, the judges rejected the arguments by a father who said his financial responsibility ended when his youngest child should have graduated.

The father, not identified, acknowledged the requirement in state law for support through high school. But he argued that the law was not intended to provide an extra year of support for a child on the "five-year plan'' who did not graduate in four due to "failing grades and lousy attendance.''

But the judges said as long as the student appears to be making progress, the duty continues even into a fifth year of high school — and even if the student already has turned 18.

Court records show that genetic testing showed the man is the biological father of all four of the mother's children. He was ordered to pay both back support and future payments.

In 2005 the state Department of Economic Security, which is entitled to intervene in child support cases, sued for past-due support. The father disputed the amount and said he was entitled to credit for payments he made after the youngest should have graduated from high school.

State law generally ends required child support at 18. But it also says if the youngster is still attending school at that age, the obligation can continue until the youngster turns 19.

The father contends that requirement simply means the money continues if the child is a senior on his or her 18th birthday but is set to graduate that year. He said it doesn't mean taking an entire extra year to get a diploma.

Appellate Judge Philip Hall, writing for the court, said the father does have a point. He said the law does "impose some responsibility on the child to be present in class.''

But Hall pointed out the law does not impose any specific attendance requirement.

Instead, Hall said, the trial judge has to consider specific factors, including whether the youngster is regularly present in class, the reasons for the absences and whether the child is taking "affirmative steps in pursuit of an education.''

Beyond that, the judge said, state policy requires parents to support their offspring "even if those children make unwise decisions.''

In this case, Hall said, the mother acknowledged the child was "struggling'' but said he was "giving his best effort'' while moving back and forth between his parents' homes. She also said many of the days the child was listed as absent were simply days he showed up late to school.

The child did, in fact, eventually get his high school diploma.

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