A pretrial hearing is scheduled today for a man who faces up to five years in prison after he was tracked down by deputies for failing to pay for than $375,000 in child support.
The attorney for David William Earley said he hoped to have a plan in place to resolve his client's legal issues in time for today's hearing in Pinellas circuit court.
But prosecutors said they intended to seek the maximum penalty.
Earley has been in jail since his arrest Jan. 19 in Pasco County.
Attorney David Parry, hired to replace a public defender, said his client is broke and unemployed. Parry asked the judge to reduce Earley's bond at a hearing earlier this month but the request was denied and Earley was required to remain in jail.
State records show Earley's accumulated child support debt puts him in the top 1 percent of all deadbeat parents monitored by the Department of Revenue. He owes $165,000 plus interest that has been accumulating since 1992.
The total tab: $377,220 as of Feb. 6.
Earley owes the money to his ex-wife and four children. At the time of Earley's arrest in January, he was living with his current wife and two daughters on a homestead in Pasco County with a horse in the pasture and tractor in the yard.
Court records show Earley has seven contempt convictions for not paying child support.
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