SMH: Man Does A Year In Jail After Not Paying Child Support For A Child That Is Not His

Posted on July 16th, 2009 - By Bossip Staff

Categories: Babies, Baby Mama Drama, Bolitics, For the Children, News, SMH

Frank_Hatley_walb

Frank Hatley was just released from prison after he was jailed for not paying child support for a child that is not his:

Frank Hatley spent the past year in jail for being a deadbeat dad. But there’s one problem — Hatley doesn’t have any children. And, the “deadbeat” label doesn’t fit the 50-year-old either, his supporters say. After a hearing, Hatley was released from the Cook County Jail in south Georgia Wednesday afternoon, with the help of the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins ruled that Hatley was indigent and should not be jailed for not being able to make child support payments. Perkins postponed a decision on whether Hatley should have to make any more back payments on child-support for a child who is not his. In June of last year, a judge ordered Hatley to jail for failing to reimburse the state for public assistance that was paid to support his “son,” who, as the court was aware, is not actually his son.
The story dates back to 1986, when Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. Morrison told Hatley that the child was his, but……the couple ended their relationship shortly after the boy’s birth, according to court documents. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents state.

When the boy turned 2, Morrison applied for public support for her son. Under Georgia law, the state can go after the non-custodial parent to recoup the assistance. For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning, in 2000, that the boy might not be his biological son. A DNA test that year confirmed that there was no chance he was the father, according to court documents. Hatley returned to court and was relieved of any future child support reimbursement but was ordered to pay more than $16,000 that he had owed the state before the ruling.

Latesha Bradley, an attorney who represented Hatley in that hearing, told CNN the argument for keeping Hatley liable for the back payments was that he had signed a consent agreement with the office of child support services. The court agreed that Hatley had to comply with the consent agreement for the period that he believed the boy was his son.

Court documents show that Hatley for the most part continued to make payments. He was jailed for six months in 2006 for falling behind on payments during a period of unemployment, but afterward he resumed making payments and continued to do so even after he lost another job in 2008 and became homeless, court records state. Last year, he again became unable to maintain the payments and was once again jailed.

The circumstances of Hatley’s arrest didn’t feel right to many, including Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey. “I knew the gentleman’s plight and didn’t know how to help him,” Daughtrey told CNN. About two months ago, when attorneys from the Southern Center for Human Rights visited his jail, Daughtrey alerted them to Hatley’s case.

If a woman tricks a man under false circumstances, how in the f*ck is he supposed to pay for that and not the woman performing the trickery and fraud?


Source

  • Resurrected

    I say get a lawyer and get some of that money back from they state…

  • Fernand

    The boy is not his so he does not have to pay jack. Let the state go after the real father!

  • pm

    “DNA tests” saving black men since 1987

  • http://perryone779@yahoo.com rose by any other name

    so damn quick the white bas*ards to put a black man in jail !!

  • Girl Please Make My Day

    DNA tests at birth. Wonder why Congress isn’t on that one.

  • Balls Deep

    This is some BS!! it should be MANDITORY for all kids who are born when the father is about to sign the birth certificate they should do a paternity test.

  • Big Roy

    Stories like that really should anger people…

  • Typical Ignorant GA Justice

    I am not surprised of this ignorant dumb down south b.s. Lock people up that deserve to be locked up. The State needs to give that man his money & dignity back. Lock that witch up who lied on him. And they say Justice is bias. If you believe that you believe in the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy & Santa Claus.

  • Sissy

    I recommend you a nice milionaire dating site __Rich Flirts.c o m__. Whenever I chat with my friends on this site, I feel really relaxed and happy. They are easygoing and honest. I enjoy staying on the site. Hope you can find more nice rich friends there. Good luck to you.

  • 303

    o well

  • beauty

    wow this is crazy how on earth can they do that he needs to get the best lowyer he can find and get that money he paid and more from state for them not doing there job and for puttinghim in jail if he has any since he would get paid from this and they owe him a public appology.

  • http://www.stewartsynopsis.com/Site%20Index.htm We “Blacks” Are The REAL Hebrew Israelites

    So wrong. So very wrong.

  • http://www.myspace.com/jcstansb Man, I just don’t care™

    @PM
    “DNA tests” saving black men since 1987
    _______________________________________________________________

    YUP!!

  • Somer

    DNA tests at birth. Wonder why Congress isn’t on that one
    ********************************

    I’ve been saying that for years. The state want their money back no matter who pays. I can’t believe he continued to pay after he found out he wasn’t the daddy.

  • WordtotheWise

    This is truly a sad story. I know this brother can’t get back the years he spent in jail, but I hope he gets royally compensated for what they’ve put him through. I wonder if putting men in jail for non-payment of child support is the best way to handle the situation. Just a thought.

  • TeeTee K

    This is Fuc$ed up! She should pay him back all his money. Ladies, if u know u r sleeping with two men. Don’t blame just one, keep it at a 100 and let them both know they might be your child’s father.

  • JB (Lakers – Odum – Fisher = Sweep))

    You know the south motto: “Feed them till they look like you”

  • tg

    Another case of a Black person getting SCREWED by the system and not being able to enjoy the screw. When I’m getting screwed, I like to enjoy it too.

  • Des

    that is sooooo messed up…Man see you can’t trust anybody!

  • Rrrrroe Ski Love-

    Here’s an Idea, After the kidds turn 18 put the Mama’s in jail for fraud, against the state and fraud against the false baby daddies.

  • tb

    Check this out….

    msnbc.msn.com/id/28080381/

    it happened to another guy.

  • tb
  • tb
  • Cierra

    The mother should repay the state for the public assistance since she was the one receiving it. No the Non-Father of the child.

  • http://bossip (( * )) ^ (( * ))

    So…did they ever determine who the real father was?

    Now that’s another child growing up not knowing who their family is…That’s why our community is growing more and more with “mentally challenged and deformed children” and the rest of ‘em are just CAH (crazy as hell)…their parents are mating with their own relatives…So we should expect to see the mother on Maury after she gets 9 possibles tested and they all come back negative?..the state should put her “oops I forgot his name” a$$ in jail until the real father reimburses the state and the faux father in full!!!

    I’ve heard of wives sueing their husbands mistresses for alienation of affection…can men sue women who falsely mislead them into these situations for “alienation of dignity, filing a false reporting and for lost wages?…

  • AWWWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAAAP!!!!

    Ol’ boy will be a’ight. The state will pay him a little restitution for that year taken off his life. Set him up with a nice down-payment for a house in the suburbs. Make it work, buddy.

  • Love None

    People please be aware that this type of nonsense is happening all throughout the country not just down South. Please understand that these laws are all about money. When you go to court it is a court of commerce only. They could care less about your rights or feelings or that of anyone else even when someone commits murder!. It is all about the money.

    The mother needed the system and now the system is looking for someone to get their money back from which really belongs to all of us because of the illegal taxes that we have all been charged on a daily basis.

  • Sepia830

    @AWWWWWWWWWWWWSHADDAAAAAP!!!!

    Ol’ boy will be a’ight. The state will pay him a little restitution for that year taken off his life. Set him up with a nice down-payment for a house in the suburbs. Make it work, buddy.
    ________________________________________________

    Very likely they don’t have to pay him if he signed something at the Child Support Enforcement office voluntarily acknowledging that the kid was his. He was served when the case was initially opened and should have filed an answer with the courts to request a paternity test.

    I do believe that he should be able to go after the kid’s mother for restitution. But seeing that her a$$ is on welfare, that would just be the state paying him so the court would most likely not order her to pay.

  • http://bossip MoniSings

    Any woman who lies to a man and leads him to believe that he is the father of a child when he is not is a poor excuse for a human being. If there is a 1% doubt of paternity, she needs to be a woman about herself, advise the potential father of the situation, and get a test. Period.

    Men always get a bad rap, and don’t get me wrong, there ARE a lot of deadbeats out there. But there are also good men, willing to step up to the plate and take care of their business, and fall into the trap of these sorry women who play these types of manipulative games, and then use the innocent children as pawns for money or spite. Despicable.

  • http://bossip.com too cute

    these men better get a test before they pay anything,I would if I were a man,some of these women will lie,just to get paid,thats sad,If I were a young man today I would’nt get anyone pregnant,use condoms

  • http://bossip (( * )) ^ (( * ))

    Theme music please….

    “Dat baby don’t look like me”

  • http://bossip (( * )) ^ (( * ))

    Theme music please….”Dat baby don’t look like me”

  • Grownup

    I can’t believe that he never asked to do a paternity test.

  • Cammie

    Child Support Enforcement don’t make the actual father’s take care of their children but they will throw a man in jail and the kid aint his??? They would’ve had to leave me in jail.

  • NO ID

    True Testament:

    Thanks for sharing your story. You are a REAL man. I appreciate the fact that although you were deceived, you recognize that it’s not the child’s fault. I hope you will keep supporting her and loving her as you’ve probably been more of a father to her than her real father. It’s stories like yours that prove there are good men out here. Keep your head up. You will be rewarded for doing the right thing.

  • True Story

    I myself was also saved from a DNA test. A woman I was involved with told me she was pregnant with my child. When the baby was born, rumors circulated that she was dealing with other men at the time of conception. She put me through hell and high water telling everyone that I was the girls father. She eventually summoned me to court over the issue. On the first court date I took the paternity test but she and the child never showed. On the second court date she didn’t show up again, prompting the judge to dismiss the case entirely. 2 years had went by as I moved on with my life in my new home Atlanta. One day I go to the mail and BAMMM! I got a notice from the county Social Services office saying that I AM the childs father and to bring my last pay stumb etc etc… As you could imagine my stomach dropped!!! I went to the county court building to find out that the child just took the test and the results weren’t back yet. When the results finally came back it read that I am 0% probability the childs father… Thanks to the DNA test I was saved!!! I urge all my brothas out there to take the paternity test before you sign anything!!!!

  • True Testament

    @ NO ID….thank you! It is really nice to hear something other than “you are stupid” which I get a lot of. Different people come at me like that because they had been telling me different things about the “baby momma” back in the day. I didn’t listen because I know how some women can be. They gossip about one another behind their backs & basically hate on each other. Most of the stuff that they use to tell me sounded like a bunch of he say she say and I’m a grown man that don’t get into all of that.

    It’s easy for people to say that they would do this & do that if they were in the situation, but it’s hard to really say how your feet will feel in the shoes until your feet are actually inside the shoes.

    I was with this woman, in what was suppose to be a monogamous relationship, so for me to ask for a paternity test when the baby was born, would’ve been like me trying to deny my child and that’s not who I am as a man (or at least that’s the way I use to think)….now I know better. I now advise every man to do so…it’s better safe than sorry.

    As far as the child is concerned, I would never hold anything against her, but I can’t lie and say that I’m the same father as I was before the test results. It’s really hard for me to hear her call me daddy now….it hurts. It’s hard when I run into someone I haven’t seen in a while and the first thing they ask me is how’s my daughter doing. It’s hard for me to look at her and not think about the fact that her mother was sleeping with somebody else and straight up lying to me, telling me she loves me and how happy she was that she was having my baby. What really bothers me is that I’ve been told (don’t know if this is true or not) that the child has somewhat of a relationship with her real father too, but she’s been taught to keep it quiet. Her mother knew that I would be a more dependable father so that’s why I’m the one she chose to put on papers. The other one is allegedly some type of “dope boy” that she was in love with but knew that he would never settle down with her. So she milks money from him when she can, as well as milk me for everything that she can. All I know is that this is a real messed up situation for me & the child. I wish that they would change the laws on this sort of thing and hold these women accountable for situations like this. They are the criminals in the situation and getting away with what should really be a crime.

  • deesac

    When will blackmen see the light. His two worst enemies are a White man and a blackwomen. WAKE UP!!!

  • Jade Silver (18 July 2009: Nelson Mandela’s Birthday)

    @ True Testament…Your story broke my heart. I hope you will find peace and may the Lord bless you.

  • C Allen

    This is true and it happened to a white guy also…..DNA showed he wasn’t the father and the baby’s mother came out later and said he wasn’t but the judge ruled that stopping him from paying would “punish the child” so the non father was left holding the bag and the real father was probably laughing himself silly. Some justice system, seems to benefit only the bad guys

  • lakke

    I think he should sue the woman and get all the back pay from her and the state…
    that’s BS. there’s another case just like this in my town. It looks like men has no rights when it comes to child support and the courts..

  • nyob

    @deesac

    So the black man’s mama, grandmama and sisters are his enemy too? If I thought that all black men were my enemy, I wouldn’t be able to sincerely hug my father and brother. If I thought that mess, I couldn’t get out of bed every morning; I would be too scared. I hate when folks use the “all black men” or “all black women” rhetoric. Damn.

    This story is sad. Thank goodness for DNA tests. Any woman who does this should be ashamed of herself. This is so hurtful to the child and the man who thinks he is a father. I can just bet that the unknown bio father is either married and won’t acknowledge the child or is single and she didn’t like his prospects. When will those that engage in this behaviour learn that your BS will eventually come to light?

    I know two people, in their 40′s who found out that 1) there was another sibling out there and 2) they were not the child of the man they thought was their father. These revelations can be painful.

  • http://html MR. WHO THAT

    First off these women should keep their legs closed and then they would not have to be sitting up on the Maury show “the results are in, Frank YOU ARE NOT THE FATHER” a lot of brothas get caught up like this and that is the reason we have a lot of “deadbeat dads” I don’t blame a brotha for not wanting to take care of another mans seed. It’s just not about who will be a better it is also about who has the most money. My brother went through this with this woman and after 7 yrs he finds out that the child was not his and her actual father was in jail on some other shit. But my brother is still paying the price for a lie he is all wrapped up in this child that he thoughts was his and would go to any length for her. Its a good thing that he is not an evil person he still goes and gets her and they continue with their routine. Me on the other hand would have an issue and although its not the childs fault, I could not continue to be there. Its way too many women lying and it’s for all the wrong reasons.

  • Babegyrl™

    Such a sad story, but…………….. He did sign the birth certificate, (even if under false pretenses)….. In doing so doesn’t he take ownership, ie yes this is my child……

    On the flip side, can’t they get her on purgery or something like that, I mean she did lie on an official state document? I’m just saying,,,,
    NEXT…..

  • Babegyrl™

    @ Mr. Who That….

    There you go with that double standard again…. Why she gotta keep her legs closed, why can’t he just “wrap it up”? If you (men) wore a rain coat everytime you walked thru the door, you would know that the kid was not your son….

  • enlight

    The reason he owes is b/c he basically signed a “conract” with the state saying he was responsible; i’m sure this “contract” could have cared less whether he was the REAL father or not b/c that’s NOT the point of the “contract”. What went wrong is that he didnt get a DNA test when this child was born. I believe in love and all that, but if you aint married to someone, you should get a damn DNA test on the baby to prevent stuff like this. Dont just be mad at the baby mama for “tricking” you, be able to get the evidence that you either is or aint the pappy!!!!

  • enlight

    Furthermore, where does it say that the woman knew all these years that he wasnt the father?? In essence, this was both of their faults!

  • eugene

    just wrong

blog comments powered by Disqus