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Boy Mistakenly Threatened With Jail For Being Deadbeat Dad

Local6.com, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.,  July 31, 2006

ORLANDO, Fla., U.S.A. -- A childless teenager in Orange County, Fla., was threatened with jail for not paying thousands of dollars in child support despite efforts by his mother to clear up the identity mistake.

The report featured Timothy Williams, who received letters asking that he pay child support for several children.

"At first I thought it was funny but it just kept coming and coming and coming," Williams said.

The first letter came in April.

"It was from the Department of Revenue stating that my son was past due in child support payment," mother Arnell Williams said. "I was like, 'Wow.'"

The woman said she took the letters to the child support enforcement office in downtown Orlando.

"I spoke to the young lady at the window who said she will make sure it will get taken care of," Williams said.

"But the letters kept coming," Local 6 reporter Nancy Alvarez said. "So did payment booklet and court orders, all of it for money owed to three different women for several children, including some who were older than Timothy. But the state still thought the teen was their dad."

With the documents threatening arrest if Timothy did not pay up, Williams called the Department of Revenue in Tallahassee.

However, the letters continued to come to Williams. She then called the Problem Solvers.

Local 6 News discovered that the real Timothy Williams is a man with a long criminal record.

Last month, Jennifer Wilson called the Problem Solvers after the state sent three of her child support payments to the wrong address.

The Department of Revenue blamed the mix up on a new computer system.

"However, this (case) is a little more complicated," Alvarez said.

"We interact with other agencies: the Clerk of the Court, the sheriff's department and attorneys," Florida Department of Revenue Rep. David Gillen said.

The department said it relies on other agencies for contact information for hard to reach parents like the real Timothy Williams.

"In this case, the address they thought belonged to Williams came from the Department of Children and Families," Alvarez said. "As for why it took so long for them to realize their mistake, well, the department is still looking into that."

"My message to them is that customer service is our No. 1 priority," Gillen said.

After we got involved, a manager called Williams to ensure her address would be removed from their system and her son cleared from these cases.

The Department of Children and Familes is also looking into how they gave out the wrong address.

"As for the Timothy Williams who actually does owe thousands of dollars to at least three different women, the department would not comment on where they stand in their search for him," Alvarez said.

The report said the department has a new computer system officials insist will eventually prevent similar mistakes in the future.

In Orange County, there are 47,000 cases and $6 million in child support money every month, according to the report.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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