FLA Attorney General Files Suit in Fraudulent Child Support Collection Case

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist today filed a civil case against two Tampa companies for victimizing children in a child support collection scheme. Nationwide Child Support, Inc., and Child Support Network, Inc., along with two corporate officers, allegedly took support payments designated for children and threatened those responsible for the child support.

An investigation by Crist’s office revealed that Nationwide and Child Support Network masqueraded as child support collection agencies. They recruited custodial parents through deceptive advertising and had them sign contracts for collection services. The defendants then skimmed a 35 percent commission fee from the payments that were collected, depriving children of more than one-third of the court-ordered amount for child support payments.

The companies’ tactics also included creating bogus child support orders, posing as employees of the Department of Revenue (DOR) ? the state’s child support enforcement agency, violating existing child support orders, resisting consumer requests to cancel contracts and other abusive practices. The companies have been in business for at least two years.

“Florida will not sit idly by and watch greed hijack child support payments from children,” said Crist. “We have a duty and responsibility to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

In addition to depriving the children of their money, the companies often obtained money by posing as DOR representatives and threatening non-custodial parents with arrest if they did not submit their payments to the companies. After receiving payments, the defendants would continue to collect from the parents, redirecting the money to their companies and keeping one-third of the payment before sending the money to the custodial parents. One man discovered that the companies were garnishing his wages for child support payments, but he was not receiving credit from the state for the payments. As a result, his driver’s license was suspended by the state for non-compliance.

Stuart Cole and Michelle Cole were named in the lawsuit as officers of the two companies responsible for six violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. In addition to civil penalties of $10,000 per violation or $15,000 if victims were elderly or disabled, the state is seeking restitution for victims, as well as an immediate injunction to stop the unlawful practices and to recover funds owed to children receiving child support.

A copy of the Attorney General’s complaint is available at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/JFAO-6NSMST/$file/Child_Support_complaint.pdf