Deadbeat dad
jailed - a first
for Hawaii
A Honolulu real estate appraiser
By Crystal Kua
got six months in prison
Star-BulletinA Honolulu real estate appraiser has become the first person in Hawaii to be given prison time for failing to pay child support.
U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor yesterday sentenced Patrick E. Keller to six months in prison - the maximum allowed under the law - for the child support charge and 14 months in prison for tax evasion. She ordered concurrent terms.
Although Keller is not the first to be prosecuted by the federal government for delinquent child support payments, he is the first one to receive jail time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Nakamura said this morning. "This is real jail, bars and all."
Steven Dubin, a former Maui physician, was the first person prosecuted in Hawaii for failing to pay child support but last year received 10 months of home detention.
Nakamura said the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted one other case, but that defendant received probation.
Gillmor also ordered Keller to pay restitution of $67,500, the amount of his back child support payments for his four children. He must also file 1991-93 tax returns and pay any back taxes.
"We put on evidence that he . . . was earning money during this time period," Nakamura said.
The case shows that people can get jailed for not living up to their parental obligations, Nakamura said. "This is a serious problem and something we are going to try to address aggressively."
In this case, Keller incurred the child support obligation in California where he was divorced and was ordered to pay $1,600 a month in support in 1990.
