Stay in jail, judge tells deadbeat dad

TAMPA -- A man sentenced to prison for failing to pay thousands in child support had an offer for the court Wednesday: Let me out, Danny J. Collins said, and I'll pay the nearly $25,000 in support I owe.

Collins' boss offered to pay the debt, saying he had invested too much time and money in training Collins, who worked for him as a subcontractor. He agreed to pay the back child support if Collins' one-year prison sentence was reduced to probation.

The mother of Collins' son, who has been trying to get support from him for years, was in favor of the idea.

But U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday, who sentenced the Weedsport, N.Y., resident last month, said no way.

"I'm unaccustomed to having someone offer to pay money to anyone in exchange for a reduction in a sentence," Merryday said.

Collins met his 14-year-old son, Brandon Wilder, who lives in Seminole, for the first time on Sept. 2, the day he showed up to be sentenced for failing to pay $29,478 in child support he owed at the time.

Deliberately failing to pay child support became a federal crime in the 1990s. It's a misdemeanor if the past due amount is greater than $5,000 and has remained unpaid for more than a year. It's a felony if the amount is greater than $10,000 and has remained unpaid for at least two years, which was the case for Collins.

Kevin Graham, Times staff writer

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