DAYTON -- The Miami Valley's best-known deadbeat parent used to be one of its biggest basketball heroes. A dozen years ago Tony Stanley played for the Dayton Flyers. Now he's making six figures playing pro-ball in France. But Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck says the fastest break Stanley ever made -- was skipping out on the $38,000 he owes in back child support. "Because he's in France, we can't bring him to justice," Heck told us. "There's a warrant out for his arrest, but that's the way it is."
Thankfully that's not the way it is for most of the 55,000 children who are owed $100 million dollars a year in Montgomery County alone. Most of their parents dutifully pay child support. And while many don't, our story shows how help is available. We follow one father who accessed the county's Job & Family Services programs to find steady work as a janitor so he could pay child support for the first time in years.
Those like Tony Stanley who refuse are subject to criminal prosecution -- and Heck often holds out for hard time in the penitentiary. His office will however divert offenders who are willing to work -- or willing to cough up assets they already have -- because the prime objective is to make sure children are suppoted by the people who brought them into this world -- not by taxpayers. And often, it works. Heck says his office has collected $10 million over the past decade.
Meantime, here's Montgomery County's list of the 10 biggest deadbeat parents and how much they owe:
ï·- Eric A. Carr, $81,551.48
ï·- Terry O. Stevenson, $66,688.80
ï·- Joseph W. Scales, $63,684.31
ï·- David M. Brock, Jr., $53,240.31
ï·- Daniel L. Colbath, $50.777.16
ï·- Byron M. Brown, $45,056.71
ï·- Anthony W. Still, $42,171.26
ï·- David M. Wood, II, $39,632.23
ï·- Anthony D. Stanley, $38,061.65
ï·- Eugene Gray, $34,137.29