Nonsupport arrest surprises newlywed

http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/j...ewlywed/?local

Nonsupport arrest surprises newlywed
by Alonzo Weston
Sunday, June 8, 2008

A honeymoon turned into a child-support nightmare recently for one couple.

After returning from their three-day honeymoon cruise in the Bahamas in May,
newlywed Joel Coursen was taken from his bride, Amy, in Cocoa, Fla., and
arrested for nonsupport on a Buchanan County warrant.

The couple had remarried after being divorced for less than a year. Mr.
Coursen said he fell behind on payments because of a discrepancy in the date
of the court order. But he said that he got caught up enough to be eligible
for a passport and had no knowledge there was any warrant for his arrest.

"It was never anywhere close to $5,000. After I was arrested, they just said
it was for felony nonsupport," Mr. Coursen said. "To my knowledge, I didn't
know there was a warrant issued. It was a big surprise."

Failure to pay child support becomes a felony after it reaches $5,000. Mr.
Coursen said he owed about $1,200.

"They ended up keeping my tax return. I actually overpaid," he said.

Dwight Scroggins, Buchanan County prosecuting attorney, said the warrant was
issued by the Springfield court system on May 6. His office issued a
statement saying Mr. Coursen was current on his payment, and it was
dismissed that same day.

Mr. Scroggins said letters were issued about the warrant before the arrest
to his last known mailing address and that it was the responsibility of Mr.
Coursen to resolve the issue beforehand. The warrant doesn't go away on its
own, he said.

"He chose to ignore it until it caught up with him in Florida," Mr.
Scroggins said. "They said she contacted them to close enforcement, which
means stop collecting child support. That has nothing to do with a criminal
case that has to be resolved by him being aware of the warrant and turning
himself in."

Alonzo Weston can be reached at .

UPDATE FOLLOWS:

Nonsupport arrest surprises newlywed
by Alonzo Weston
Sunday, June 8, 2008

A honeymoon turned into a child-support nightmare recently for one couple.

After returning from their three-day honeymoon cruise in the Bahamas in
May, newlywed Joel Coursen was taken from his bride, Amy, in Cocoa, Fla.,
and arrested for nonsupport on a Buchanan County warrant.

The couple had remarried after being divorced for less than a year. Mr.
Coursen said he fell behind on payments because of a discrepancy in the
date of the court order. But he said that he got caught up enough to be
eligible for a passport and had no knowledge there was any warrant for his
arrest.

"It was never anywhere close to $5,000. After I was arrested, they just
said it was for felony nonsupport," Mr. Coursen said. "To my knowledge, I
didn't know there was a warrant issued. It was a big surprise."

Failure to pay child support becomes a felony after it reaches $5,000. Mr.
Coursen said he owed about $1,200.

"They ended up keeping my tax return. I actually overpaid," he said.

Dwight Scroggins, Buchanan County prosecuting attorney, said the warrant
was issued by the Springfield court system on May 6. His office issued a
statement saying Mr. Coursen was current on his payment, and it was
dismissed that same day.

Mr. Scroggins said letters were issued about the warrant before the arrest
to his last known mailing address and that it was the responsibility of
Mr. Coursen to resolve the issue beforehand. The warrant doesn't go away
on its own, he said.

"He chose to ignore it until it caught up with him in Florida," Mr.
Scroggins said. "They said she contacted them to close enforcement, which
means stop collecting child support. That has nothing to do with a
criminal case that has to be resolved by him being aware of the warrant
and turning himself in."

Alonzo Weston can be reached at .
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Posted by jandac on June 8, 2008 at 4:16 p.m.
I am Joels' wife Amy, and to add to the story above, when they arrested my
husband he was only allowed to take his drivers license with him and $20.00,
I wasn't allowed to see him before starting my journey all the way back to
Missouri, couldn't leave him any extra money or anything, when it was all
settled and and I had the papers in hand for FL to let him out of jail, they
said "See ya later, take care, and by the way we are keeping your $20.00 for
a booking fee" So needless to say because of the incompetence of someone not
doing the paper work my husband was set free on foot, with no money, no car,
no shelter in a place that he knew nothing about. Now tell me how would D
Scroogins like for that to happen to him or someone in his family?

Missouri, couldn't leave him any extra money or anything, when it was all
settled and and I had the papers in hand for FL to let him out of jail,
they said "See ya later, take care, and by the way we are keeping your
$20.00 for a booking fee" So needless to say because of the incompetence
of someone not doing the paper work my husband was set free on foot, with
no money, no car, no shelter in a place that he knew nothing about.

It's the typical arrogance of government agencies to assume the victims of
their tyranny are responsible for their mistakes.

That warrant should have been withdrawn the moment that there was no case!

How about they sue the state for incompetence?


Just when is this society going to figure out that this social problem is
not a criminal problem?