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Judge To Deadbeat Dad: Money Can't Buy You Freedom Now

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 1, 2008

TAMPA - An employer's offer to clear up a child support debt wasn't enough to persuade a federal judge to release Danny J. Collins from a one-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday said today that changing the punishment he meted out barely a month ago would send the wrong message.

"I am comfortable with a precedent that you'd better pay your child support before you get the attention of the U.S. attorney's office," Merryday said.

Collins, of Weedsport, N.Y., pleaded guilty to ignoring 14 years of payments due his son Brandon Wilder of Seminole. Collins had amassed a $29,478.50 backlog.

His employer, Mark A. Geary, president of Maggar Management & Development Inc., offered to pay the debt when he learned Collins wouldn't be returning to work. Collins agreed to pay $5,000 at his sentencing Sept. 2.

Stephen Leal, Collins' attorney, asked Merryday to reconsider the sentence in light of the offer.

Neither the prosecutor nor Brandon's mother, Michelle Wilder, objected. Both said the family's financial needs outweigh the need for punishment. Brandon Wilder has cystic fibrosis, and his mother said she often could not afford his medication, doctor visits or medical tests.

"I'm caught in the middle," Wilder said. "I really think these cases should be crimes and be taken more seriously, but it's frustrating you don't get the money you're owed."

Wilder said she understood the judge's position.

"I think Judge Merryday is the first person in 14 years to stand up to Danny, and he's not going to back down," she said.

Merryday said he had concerns about his authority to change the sentence. But he had greater worries about the propriety of accepting an offer of money in return for a reduced sentence.

"It feels unseemly to me," he said.

Collins told the judge he had learned his lesson and has established, and values, a relationship with his son.

"If I was out of jail working, I could at least help with the doctors visits," he said.

Merryday said he hoped Collins had learned his lesson and was aware of the months without financial support the family would endure while he finished his prison term.

"This debt is not one specifically addressed by cash," he said.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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