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Dad Accused Of Avoiding Child Support Faces Judge

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By MARK DOUGLAS

mdouglas@wfla.com

Published: January 20, 2009

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David Earley

"OK" was all David William Earley said when he faced a judge in Pasco County dressed in jail stripes today, charged with violating his probation and failure to pay $165,000 in child support.

On the other hand, his wife and ex-wife have plenty to say about the consequences of his arrest, the reason for it and what it means to them.

Ex-wife Sharon Earley said she's been trying to collect child support for her four kids from Earley for the past 19 years. Three of them have reached adulthood, but Earley still owes child support.

"We've had to do without a lot of things," Sharon Earley said.

Earley's current wife Christina Earley disagrees.

"She [Sharon} lives in a nice house in Palm Harbor and has more jewelry than God," Christina Earley told News Channel 8 in a phone interview. "She's not suffering."

Christina Earley owns a hair salon and lives on an acre of land with Earley and their two daughters. A horse grazes in the pasture, but she said they bought the property with no money down and finances are tight because Earley can't find work as a tile installer.

"He's tried, he's looked around," Christina Earley said.

Sharon Earley said her ex-husband has voiced countless excuses over the years for not supporting the four children they had together, and judges have heard most of them.

"He's very convincing and manipulates the judges, and usually they buy it because he's got a nice smile and a very honest look in front of the judges and that's why it's gone on for so long," Sharon Earley said.

At an advisory hearing today, Pasco Circuit Judge Walter Schafer Jr. told Earley he faces transfer to the Pinellas jail and eventually will answer to a judge there unless he can come up with enough cash to "purge" his debt.

It's not clear how much that would take, but Earley's current wife says he doesn't have anything because she earns all the income in their family and barely makes ends meet.

Pasco deputes found Earley hiding in a trailer park in Holiday on Monday after receiving an anonymous tip. They had been aggressively looking for him since a News Channel 8 team found Earley hiding in plain sight Dec. 30th at his wife's hair salon.

During that encounter, Earley acknowledged he was a wanted fugitive but said he was "just waiting for a chunk of money" before turning himself in on a felony fugitive warrant.

At the time Earley told a reporter that even if Pasco deputies caught him, his trip to jail would be a "walk through."

It didn't turn out that way.

The day that News Channel 8 broadcast a story about Earley, his state probation officer convinced Pinellas Circuit Judge Frank Quesada to issue a new felony arrest warrant with "no bond" instead of the "ROR" (release on his own recognizance) that was stated on the fugitive warrant issued in February.

Christina Earley said after spending two "stress-filled" weeks answering frequent police knocks at her door, she told her two elementary school-age daughters the truth about their father's arrest and the reason for it.

"I had no other choice," she said.

A Pinellas judge could sentence David Earley to as long as five years prison for skipping out on his probation and failure to pay child support.

After learning about Earley's arrest Monday, his ex-wife Sharon expressed a mixture of relief and resignation about the impact.

"Not really sure if I'll get any child support at this point," Sharon Earley said.

Still, she's not giving up and plans to attend every hearing once Pasco jail deputies transfer David Earley back to the Pinellas jail.

"I'll be at every one of them, oh yeah," she said.

Meanwhile, Earley's current wife is equally resigned to what her family life might be like if her husband goes to prison for financially abandoning the four children he had with his first wife.

"We're just going to have to survive," Christina Earley said. "I'll do what I have to for my kids."

Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 536-9603.

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