BAY MINETTE, Alabama — The Baldwin County District Attorney’s Office’s Child Support Division, in partnership with the Baldwin County Department of Human Resources, received a statewide award in 2010 for collections among the state’s largest counties.

“The news of the award came at the same time that two of Baldwin County’s most egregious deadbeat dads were arrested on indictment,” District Attorney Hallie Dixon said. “I am so proud of the work that our Child Support Division is doing for the children of Baldwin County, and that non‐custodial parents are being held accountable for their financial obligations.”

Assistant District Attorney Ray Kolb Jr. said it takes a solid partnership with law enforcement officials to find and charge non‐custodial parents with criminal non‐support.

“It took a lot of hard work by law enforcement in both Baldwin County and Hattiesburg, Miss., to enable our office to locate, arrest and extradite one defendant who has been avoiding service for failure to pay child support arrears for quite some time now,” Kolb said.

Child Support Division Director Andrea Chastang said some non custodial parents actively avoid court ordered child support payments.

“One of the men recently arrested had not made child support payments since he failed to appear for a criminal non‐support revocation hearing in October 2008,” Chastang said. “He has been avoiding his obligation for many years and eluded law enforcement by moving frequently.

“The custodial parent has been very active in this case,” Chastang said. “She contacted our office a few weeks ago to let us know that she heard he was in Hattiesburg. We immediately contacted the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office with the information she provided so that the writ of arrest could be sent to Hattiesburg for law enforcement to take action. In a few days we had him in custody.”

The other recent arrest was made in Chilton County, Ala., of a father who avoided paying more than $18,000 in child support since November 2008 by moving frequently and failing to appear for court, Dixon said.

“The custodial parent in this case has also been very active in efforts to find him,” Chastang said. “Information was passed to the Chilton County law enforcement in September, and they worked diligently to finally apprehend him.”