[7/13/04]The state has won a $41,790 judgment for child support in what may be the first criminal prosecution of its type in Warren County.

Teresa York of Vicksburg is to be paid the money over five years as restitution from her ex-husband, Jerry Lee “Boo” Massey, an order by Judge Isadore Patrick says.

Defaulting on child support is usually a civil matter. A parent can be jailed, but usually on a chancellor’s contempt citation for failing to follow the judicial order to pay.

Charging default as a crime is a new tactic. Massey was charged in an indictment returned by the July 2003 Warren County grand jury with failing to pay child-support for two children, who are now ages 18 and 16, from June 30, 1998, until May 20, 2003. Each count amounted to a felony, the indictment said.

Massey pleaded guilty in Warren County Circuit Court June 14. He received a nonadjudicated sentence, meaning Patrick withheld official acceptance of his plea conditioned on Massey making the payments.

If he doesn’t, a five-year prison term may be imposed, making Massey a convicted felon.

With the plea, Massey, who lives in Texas, paid a $1,000 fine on the spot and accepted five years’ probation. During that time, he is to pay $575 a month in restitution, with $435 of that monthly payment to go to York through the Department of Human Services.

Assistant Attorney General, Kassie Coleman, who prosecuted the case, said her office began taking such cases about 2 1/2 years ago. Only bigger cases, she said, will be taken to grand juries.

“We typically like to see a high arrearage or a long time,” Coleman said. A case involving an unpaid balance of, say, $2,000, would not be high enough to warrant such a prosecution, she said.

The district attorney for Warren, Sharkey and Issaquena counties since 1992, Gil Martin, said he could not remember another such case being prosecuted here.

York said she learned of the criminal prosecution approach on television.

“I saw a TV show,” in which a “deadbeat dad” had been ordered to pay child support from Tennessee, York said.

York said she worked through the Department of Human Services for years to try to get the money paid, but faced numerous delays from Massey’s side in Texas civil court.

Once the attorney general’s office accepted the case as a criminal matter, it was delayed only once, for three weeks, Coleman said.

Parents facing similar problems may not be aware that, even as recipients of no other benefits from DHS, they may open child-support cases through the department for $25 each, Coleman said. Both mothers and fathers who do not pay child support may be prosecuted as “deadbeat parents.”

The attorney generals’ office has about two staff members, including one attorney, working on such cases. About 200 such cases are pending in courts around the state, Coleman said. About five to seven convictions have been obtained so far this year, she added.

“You don’t see a lot of trials,” Coleman said, adding that guilty pleas are common in such cases.

While the full range of criminal sentences, including jail time is available in such cases, Coleman said the attorney general’s office seeks payment above all else.

“We just want them to make those payments,” she said.