The top deadbeat parent in the world is not an honor most parents would be proud to have, but prosecutors have bestowed that title on one New York man who owes over $1 million in child support payments.
Honoree Robert Sand, who will not be getting a father of the year award anytime soon, appeared in the U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Long Island with a guilty plea to owing over $1.2 million in child support for three children, according to a Feb. 21 Associated Press report. The amount stems from payments owed to three children and includes penalty and interest charges since 2002. He faces up to four years imprisonment.
The 50-year-old “deadbeat” parent told the court that he fled to Florida and then Thailand to escape his child support payments. His attorney Glenn Obedin said that Sand finally contacted law enforcement last year after the exhaustion of living on the run kicked in. He was reportedly arrested in the Philippines in November of last year for unrelated charges and sent to Los Angeles where he was arrested by federal marshals, and then extradited to New York, according to the Associated Press.
His attorney argued that his client was itching to make things right. “He had enough and wanted to come back and have the opportunity to make it right.” Prosecutors, however, stuck to their theory. “Neither court orders nor the familial bond meant anything to him as he fled to avoid his obligations," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.”
As part of the plea agreement, Sand is required to make full restitution. One of his two ex-wives gave her opinion on her infamous ex. Sand’s second wife said he owes her about $400,000 in support for their daughter, according to the New York Daily News. “I think he should be locked up for a long time,” she said. “He was a terrible role model, so I think it benefited us not having him around.”
Sand’s attorney, for his part, dutifully insists his client is happy to back. “He’s happy to be back and is looking forward to the opportunity to address these outstanding issues,” said Obedin.
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