Deadbeat dad hauled from S.C. for sixth time

The father owes two children a total $55,415.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Hamilton County has paid six times to return a man, wanted for failing to pay child support here, from South Carolina.

The total bill is about $4,300 to retrieve Timothy Burt, who has a 2005 criminal conviction for failing to pay child support. The most recent return to Hamilton County Jail was Jan. 30.

“Our guys feel like fishermen — it’s catch and release,” said Steve Barnett, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. “We have to pick up the same guy over and over.”

It’s not unusual to pick up somebody from out of state twice, once on the original warrant and once when they fail to show up for court, Barnett said.

But six times? “That’s the most ever in recent times,” Barnett said.

A company called Transcor picks Burt up under contract, but taxpayers pay the bill. Child support records show that Burt, 38, owes the two children named in the indictment against him $55,415. He also owes a third child, age 8, $19,000. That child wasn’t involved in the criminal case.

Burt has been ordered to pay $220.99 a month, said Patrick Dressing, an assistant Hamilton County prosecutor. In past two years, he’s paid about $3,000, he said.

Dressing said he wants Burt sent to prison this time. But prison makes it more unlikely that payments will be made.

“Each judge, based on the individual facts of a case, is trying to do whatever they can to get the person to pay rather than send the person to prison where the child would get nothing or just a few dollars,” said Jeffrey Startzman, assistant director of the Job and Family Services’ Child Support Enforcement Agency.

Judge Norbert Nadel agrees.

“Sitting in jail doesn’t get the money,” he said. “We want them to pay money so taxpayers don’t have to support the children.”

Burt was charged in September 2004 with four counts of nonsupport. Three months later, he was arrested in South Carolina. In January 2005, he pleaded guilty to two counts of nonsupport, was released pending sentencing, and was arrested again in South Carolina after failing to appear.