Dad Commits Paternity Fraud, Goes to Prison
June 18th, 2009 by Robert Franklin, Esq.We've seen plenty of paternity fraud before, but always done by a woman. Usually she tells a guy - or allows her husband to believe - that the child is his, when it's not. That way, she gets to choose who she wants to be the dad. If she prefers Tom to Harry, she tells Tom the baby's his whether it is or not.
The other way a woman commits paternity fraud is to disappear from the man's life once she's pregnant. Or, if he asks her whose it is, she tells him it's someone else's.
However it's done, I have only seen two cases in which a woman paid any type of price for her deceipt. Back in 1990, a West Virginia woman, Anne Conaty, became pregnant with her boyfriend's (John Kessel's) child. He made it clear to her that he wanted to be a hands-on father, but she had other ideas. She fled to California and placed the child for adoption in Canada, fully aware that Kessel had gotten a temporary injunction against the adoption. The adoption was completed, but Kessel successfully sued Conaty, winning a judgment for $7.85 million against her and her California attorney.
In one other case, a Georgia man successfully got a judgment for return of child support he had paid for a child who was not his and about whom the mother had lied.
Here, by contrast, is a man who defrauded a woman and was sentenced to 4-23 months in prison for his trouble (MSNBC, 12/31/08). He had been paying child support for five years, but when the woman went to court to get the amount increased, he contested paternity and, when the time came to give DNA samples, sent a buddy in his place.
The buddy has been charged as well, and was also tried.
So what gives? Why is it that women can lie to men and courts about paternity without legal consequence? And it's not that he lied under oath that made the difference; in divorce cases women often swear that the child is the husband's without consequence when it's not. What the guy did was scurrilous, but the same holds true for women who lie about paternity.
If it's wrong, it's wrong.
Thanks to Jeff for the heads-up.
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June 18th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
The reason he paid is because he dafrauded the courts while the women defraud men. There is a difference, as anyone who has dealt with courts knows.
For example, if you beat someone up or rob someone, they might just give you probation. But violate that probation -- and disrespect the court -- and you'll do hard time. Courts trump actual people in American justice.
And of course there's the female sentencing discount.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Did you believe our courts are about justice? Did you believe there was equal protection under law? What else did you learn in school and on TV? Honest courts and judges dispensing justice; that's not our system. Brave New World. Women perjure as a defense mechanism. Men perjure out of evil intent.
June 19th, 2009 at 7:40 am
A jacka$$ move like that could set mens rights back a long ways. I say castrate teh @#$#@er.
June 19th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Don't mind him going to prison if every woman goes to prison for paternity fraud also.
But the judicial double-standard stinks!!!
June 19th, 2009 at 10:16 am
"Don't mind him going to prison if every woman goes to prison for paternity fraud also."
There would be almost no women left.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:06 am
John - "A jacka$$ move like that could set mens rights back a long ways."
John,
I would respectfully disagree with you here. Had he gotten away with it, then THAT outcome could be readily used to throw up a "smoke-screen" of "men-do-it-too" to obfuscate the over-overwhelmingly large number of cases wherein women "get away with it".
The fact that he WILL go to prison effectively blunts the use of this case (by feminists and mis-guided chivalrous manginas) as grounds to continue to ignore the rather significant issue of WOMEN committing the comparable fraud against men.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:09 am
What this man did was wrong. Of course, the double standard stinks to high heaven, but we need to be very careful while railing against the double standard that we don't try and give the perpetrator a free pass because of all the free passes women get. That would make us baseless hypocrites to think in such a fashion.
Throw the book at him, and make him pay a fair price for his crime. If nothing else, the next time paternity fraud is committed, that perpetrator might be more likely to be punished if this one was.
June 19th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Charles - "...we need to be very careful while railing against the double standard that we don't try and give the perpetrator a free pass because of all the free passes women get."
A very good point, indeed. Fortunately, I haven't seen any man taking his side in that way yet (my snide little jab at the way women tend to "rally" around the worst offenders amongst them - Clara Harris, Mary Winkler, and many others too numerous to type out here).
June 19th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Another reason these two are being punished is that they're both military officers, and integrity is (supposedly) an important character trait.
If these two are in this much trouble, women should be on the hook for falsifying records when they do it, as well as fraud.
I suspect that much of the double standard is that women can hold the children's welfare hostage to avoid accountability.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Offended Dad,
They are being punished because they exposed the human side of military personnel. Joining the military does not give you character - you already either had it or you did not. I don't see this man as having done anything wrong. To resist your captors with any means possible is a noble thing - one that will be punished by your captors, but still a noble thing.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
The rest of you - do you actually think the man did anything wrong? Absolutely not! He actually resisted a violation of his rights. I am with him - he did not hurt anyone, he actually stood up for himself. Had he not, he would be just another "Aww! Sucks!" story. As a military man, he is required to do a lot of things that common people will not do. For that I do believe he has a right to decide where his earnings are spent.
June 19th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
When a man does it it's a scheme worth a prison sentence.
When a woman does it it's just shoved under the table and forgotten.
Man this sucks!!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:45 am
The legal system only gets even more lop sided. This is my personal experience. The woman deceives the man she decides she wants as the father of her child, which is not the biological father. The man marries the woman based on deception, because he does not want to bastardize what he believes to be his biological son. The now wife files for divorce and accuses her husband for adultery. The attorney for the husband says it does not matter, because Arkansas is a no fault state. The husband challenges paternity for the first child at the paternity hearing and the judge denies the fathers rights. The mother gets up on the stand and commits fraud and perjury. The father asks for joint shared custody at the divorce hearing for the non-biological child (first child born 1 month into the marriage) and the second child (biological son during the marriage). The judge gave full custody to the fraudulent and perjured mother. The father subpoenaed the OBGYN and paternity records, which will show that the mother committed perjury and fraud on the court and all the opposing attorney had to do is respond with the father is harassing, embarrassing and annoying her client and the judge quashed both subpoena. It has cost me over $200,000.00 in seven years and many more to go for this bias court system and this lady that has committed fraud and perjury on the court. Another amazing fact about this woman is that she has now had 5 children fathered by 4 different men and every time she gets full custody and the man is left as the visitation person. This is quite a system she has learned to work. If I did not know better I would think she was making laws for the state. How do the courts, laws get passed and legislation sits back and allows the citizens of their own state to be violated like this? I get the feeling that it feels good to them that they think they are protecting the child, by making sure that if is financially cared for, but we are all smart enough to know that it takes more than money to raise a child and it also takes a parent that does not prey upon other people to profit. They cannot force love or create relationships that are built on deception, lies and fraud. This sends a clear message to everyone including the child that the presence of a father is not relevant, fraud and perjury pay, and it is OK to violate US constitutional rights. With that being said it really concerns me as to where our society is headed, because it is clear that this is not government by the people and for the people.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 am
Perfect example of the unbalanced scale used in child support cases. Women commit paternity fraud on a regular basis and when it's proven later on that the guy is not the father, there are no consequences for the woman.
I also disagree with the blogger that implied that this is different because the man defrauded the courts but the women of Paternity Fraud fame only defrauded the man.
This is way off base. The woman when filing for child support signed a court document saying that the man or men mentioned on the form are "the only possible father's".
Well, when it's proven later that they guy ISN'T the father, the aforementioned indicates the woman has perjured herself on a court document and state filing.
Paternity Justice will not be served until women are held accountable for their deception. In many cases, including mine, this action becomes more of a family rights or even a human rights issue and not just a woman's rights cause to be championed.
Feel free to Goggle my name if you'd like to know more.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:23 am
This is more proof of how biased the system is against men and let the women get away with anything.
Why is it women comit paternity fraud all the time and the man is still stick paying for a child that isn't even his child and the judges ordered the child support when they are fully aware that the child isn't that man's biological child and the woman LIED, to the man and especially to the court. Isn't lying to the court called perjury and or fraud? Which are both felonies that the women commit all the time and the judges and state attorneys don't care.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:50 am
I think in all child support cases DNA should be mandatory before any payments are collected. Why is it that if a woman is asked to DNA testing that she can get the courts to refuse - what is she hiding - and for me this is the truth of the matter - if the child is really the suggested father - shouldn't he have some guarantee about the paternity - especially when women can go through a whole life time letting the child believe one thing and the truth is very different. Maybe if the DNA testing was allowed and we got accurate stats on how many women lie - maybe it would be very interesting to see how many false or exaggerated claims of abuse would be associated with it and maybe there wouldn't be so much support from the woman's family because they would see the truth for what it is. My ex asked me for DNA samples and because I had nothing to hide I said yes - how many other women can do that.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
This has gone on for years. After my divorce I was ordered to pay child support in Michigan (Wayne County), enough said!
I paid $530 per week to my ex-wife up until she kicked our 11 year old out of the house. I raised him from age 11 and he still lives with me. I never received a penny in support from her but the courts also made me pay for my daughter even after finding out she is not my biological daughter. What a mess. I never made the kids pay for her indescretions. I paid every penny of support and it was very costly even beyond the money issue. The kids paid dearly over the years. Today I look at it as the past that will never be re-written but the kids know that I did everything I needed to do.
For years I was very outspoken about the subject but eventually I was accused of painting a picture of their mother in a bad light. I did not want my kids to see me as the one painting the bad picture so I shut up and let it all go. I paid the ticket and moved on. My son is headed toward becoming a pharmacist today and my daughter is starting nursing school. Perhaps someday they will look back and say that their Dad was there for them in a very supportive way. If not, I know I did everything I could do and everything I was ordered to do by law.
I have no regrets and love both of my children very much. I joke and tell people I have lived a great life and have no regrets except for the ONE mistake I made back in 1986 when I married for the first time. But if that didn't happen then I would never have had my children so I guess it was well worth the pain.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
This has gone on for years. After my divorce I was ordered to pay child support in Michigan (Wayne County), enough said!
I paid $530 per week to my ex-wife up until she kicked our 11 year old out of the house. I raised him from age 11 and he still lives with me. I never received a penny in support from her but the courts also made me pay for my daughter even after finding out she is not my biological daughter. What a mess. I never made the kids pay for her indescretions. I paid every penny of support and it was very costly even beyond the money issue. The kids paid dearly over the years. Today I look at it as the past that will never be re-written but the kids know that I did everything I needed to do for them.
For years I was very outspoken about the subject but eventually I was accused of painting a picture of their mother in a bad light. I did not want my kids to see me as the one painting the bad picture so I shut up and let it all go. I paid the ticket and moved on. My son is headed toward becoming a pharmacist today and my daughter is starting nursing school. Perhaps someday they will look back and say that their Dad was there for them in a very supportive way. If not, I know I did everything I could do and everything I was ordered to do by law.
I have no regrets and love both of my children very much. I joke and tell people I have lived a great life and have no regrets except for the ONE mistake I made back in 1986 when I married for the first time. But if that didn't happen then I would never have had my children so I guess it was well worth the pain.