Child support roundup set for February

By Dawn Treglown

CENTRE — Tens of thousands of dollars in delinquent child support payments are on the line, and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, in cooperation with the office of District Attorney Mike O'Dell, is going after the money beginning Feb. 1.

Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver said his office would be working extra hours all month long in February in cooperation with Gary Williams, an agent on O'Dell's Child Support Unit.

“We work really well with the D.A.'s office and especially Agent Williams,” Shaver said.

Sheriff's deputies will focus their efforts on locating nearly 50 suspects with warrants for non-support of their children.

“We chose the month of February to do this because we wanted to dedicate a special period to get this done,” Shaver said.

Shaver said he felt like a week would not be long enough to complete the task, because his staff of deputies is significantly smaller than the ones in most neighboring counties.

He said he wants enough time to dedicate to the round-up, because he doesn't want some other important issue to come up that might interfere.

Agent Williams will be coordinating the joint effort and providing information and locations as to where the suspects may be located, Shaver said.

He said the sought-after suspects are in arrears on child support in amounts ranging from a few thousand dollars up to $99,000.

Arrest warrants have already been issued for all the suspects, Shaver said. A concerted effort will be focused on serving the warrants to help provide financial relief to children.

“We don't want these people in jail,” Shaver said. “We want them to be responsible. They have an obligation to take care of the kids, so they can have food and clothes.”

He said that people arrested for non-support are held in the jail with no bail set until they make arrangements through O'Dell's office.

“They can avoid this by going ahead and contacting the D.A.'s office and making arrangements now,” he added.

Shaver said he encourages anyone who thinks that they are delinquent to immediately contact Agent Williams and make appropriate arrangements to satisfy their obligations. Williams may be reached at 927-5577 or 899-3906.