Cook County Sheriff rounding up deadbeat dads

CHICAGO — Authorities in Cook County are stepping up their efforts to round up parents who have skipped out on their child support payments.

A day after the sheriff's department picked up the last of 80 deadbeat dads — on Father's Day, no less — Sheriff Tom Dart said within the next two weeks, the department's website will include the photographs of the 1,100 parents his investigators are still looking for.

"There are so many people who live on the Internet and love the CSI world and the criminal justice world ... who can help us find deadbeat dads," said Dart.

To make it easier, Dart said the site will include the names and last known addresses of the deadbeat dads and the handful of deadbeat moms being sought. He said that while people who owe child support often try to keep their whereabouts a secret from authorities by doing things like only paying for items in cash, they do not always move far away. He said all 80 men picked up in the last couple weeks were located in Cook County.

As a result, he said, he is optimistic that when people punch in their own Zip codes they may be led to photographs that include someone they recognize. The site on Monday had the photographs of about 30 deadbeat dads for whom arrest warrants have been issued for contempt of court following their failure to pay child support.

The 80 men who were picked up owed a total of about $1.7 million, including one who owned a barbershop and owed $213,000. Dart said when officers went to the home of another man who owed $60,000, they found $44,000 in a bag, and a few assault rifles and other weapons.

Other departments around the United States have in the past gone out in search of parents who have failed to pay their child support — stepping up their efforts around Father's Day. But the sheriff's department was, according to Dart's office, the first law enforcement agency in the county to create a unit specializing in trying to nab deadbeat parents. And, according to a spokeswoman, the office knows of no other law enforcement agency in the United States that has posted a photograph of everyone being sought on a warrant after failing to pay child support.