BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT -- Faced with losing his red Pontiac Firebird, a local man has figured out a way to start paying about $8,000 in outstanding child support.
William Dees, 31, has three weeks to use his sports car as leverage in getting a loan. He has agreed to pay $2,500 in child support -- plus any accrued storage and impound fees -- by Nov. 5 or have his prized possession appear on an auction block soon after.
Campbell District Judge Mickey Foellger accepted Mr. Dees' deal Tuesday, a day after he took Mr. Dees' keys. This was the first time the judge took a car into custody because of child support debt.
"They usually have all these excuses: They have no job (or) they have no paycheck," he said. "From now on, the next question could be, "Do you have a car?' "
Judge Foellger had threatened Mr. Dees with repeated orders and 30 days behind bars. He was supposed to be paying $281 a month for his two children.
Then Monday arrived. Mr. Dees told the judge he had just bought a used Firebird with a $21,000 cash settlement he received this summer. The judge said about $6,000 went to an attorney, and Mr. Dees used $5,000 for the sports car and about $3,000 to soup it up. But Mr. Dees never used any of the remaining cash to clean up his child support record.
"It was so outrageous that he got this cash and didn't pay any child support," the judge said Tuesday. "It was convenient that he drove (the car) to court."
Judge Foellger asked for Mr. Dees' keys, and the car was placed in an impound lot. Mr. Dees appeared in court Tuesday with attorney Rob Hoover, who presented a solution for repayment; the judge accepted it.
The car remains in an impound lot. If Mr. Dees gets a loan and retains title to his car, he will pay the child support in monthly installments.
