DAY 2

GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger

Jay Goldfarb of Marshfield, left, says, “I don’t consider myself a deadbeat dad.”

‘It’s their child ...They should pay’

Jay Goldfarb didn’t seem especially surprised to come face to face with Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Reilly, but he was clearly not pleased about the timing.

Goldfarb, a salesman, was working with a customer at a Weymouth car dealership when Reilly arrived.

“I’m not going to argue because you’re doing your job,” he told Reilly. “Can you give me five minutes?”

“No,” Reilly said.

“Three minutes?” he asked.

“No,” Reilly repeated, his 6-foot-1 frame coming uncomfortably close to Goldfarb. “One minute.”

“I’m not a jerk. I’m not going to do anything,” said Goldfarb, who quickly explained to his boss that the arrest was a “civil matter” and kept his eyes averted from curious suit-wearing co-workers. “I suppose you have to put cuffs on me. Can we do it outside, sir?”

Another “no.” Reilly politely and calmly secured the handcuffs on Goldfarb’s wrists and led him to his cruiser. It was a long, quiet ride to the county jail in Plymouth, where Goldfarb spent the night before facing a judge in the morning.

Goldfarb, 59, of Marshfield, is a deadbeat dad, wanted for owing about $10,000 in child support to his disabled daughter. He missed a court date and ignored Reilly’s repeated attempts to contact him.

When deadbeats stop paying and skip court hearings, the job of arresting them and hauling them before a judge falls to constables and sheriff’s deputies.

And they have heard it all.

Deadbeats claim they’re current on their payments, they say they don’t have money to pay, or they just sent a check or are about to send one. Some question why they should be paying at all.

“That one I don’t stand. ... It’s their child. It’s their responsibility,” Reilly said. “They should pay.”

Constable Jerry Loomis, who has an office in Weymouth, is also a divorced father who has been paying child support for 18 years. He said it feels good bringing in guys who neglect their children.

“I couldn’t fall between the cracks, so who do these people think they are?” he said. “I don’t feel bad for them.”

Constables and sheriff’s deputies say they find themselves repeatedly hunting down the same deadbeats.

Reilly, who has arrested 500 deadbeats in a decade, said 35 to 40 percent of his targets are being picked up because they failed to make good on promises made to a judge the first, second or third time they were hauled in. He arrested one guy six times - about once every three months.

“For a lot of them, jail is a wake-up call, and I never see them again,” Reilly said. “Other guys will do 30 days and get out and I’ll be looking for him again in 60 days.”

Deadbeats are picked up for ignoring the court summons issued when either the state or ex-spouse files for a contempt of court hearing.

If the deadbeat is a no-show, a judge will approve a civil arrest warrant.

That’s when Reilly and Loomis or someone like them starts hunting. They get a photograph from the custodial parent and make calls to the deadbeat’s family, friends, landlord, employer and the places he or she hangs out.

Loomis, who wears a bullet-proof vest and carries a gun, said he has found deadbeats under beds, behind walls, in attics and under covers, lying still and playing dead. Reilly has arrested deadbeats at weddings, graduations, even wakes.

Neither has the authority to serve a civil warrant out of state.

“If we find out he’s coming back, then I can grab him.” Reilly said.

Loomis said he doesn’t know why some deadbeats can’t meet their obligations. “They swear up and down they don’t owe money, and meanwhile these people have big-screen TVs and satellite dishes - the best of everything,” he said.

In Goldfarb’s case, he claims his up-and-down income is at the root of his skipped child support payments.

Goldfarb’s daughter, 27, is severely retarded and living in a group home in Arizona. Goldfarb has been ordered by a court to pay child support into her adulthood. He says he makes payments when he can.

“When I’m making money, I make the payments,” he said. “I don’t consider myself a deadbeat dad who went away to Mexico.” But Reilly’s records showed in May that Goldfarb was about $10,000 in arrears.

Goldfarb doesn’t only owe his daughter money. He owes her time.

“It’s been years,” he said. “But I still think about her every day.”

Dina Gerdeman may be reached by clicking here.

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