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Deadbeat sweep grabs $36,000 in Bergen, highest in NJ

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Just in time for Christmas: Deadbeat dads (and moms) scooped up in New Jersey’s latest sweep ponied up $36,000 in Bergen County — the most child support collected in the state during a three-day series of raids. Next highest was Monmouth, with nearly $34,500, contributing to an overall state total of more than $223,000. The bad news: That’s barely 1.5 percent of the $14.3 million owed.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot

Bergen’s total collections, from 63 arrests, account for 5 percent of the $639,121 owed, according to the state Department of Human Services figures released this afternoon.

That comes out to nearly $573 per arrest.

Bergen’s sheriffs officers also pulled in the fourth highest number of deadbeats, after much larger Camden, Middlesex and Monmouth counties.

Hudson pulled down only 3 percent — $9,788 — of $281,290 in arrears. Despite its density, the county had one of the lowest arrest totals in the state: 22.

The highest amount outstanding, a whopping $1.6 million, is in Middlesex County, where 79 arrests produced only $10,133 — roughly $128 per parent.

Camden had the most arrests: 96. But authorities collected only $13,900 — a pittance of the $1.3 million owed.

All told, 953 delinquents were snagged during the raids on non-custodial parents who failed to pay court-ordered support or simply didn’t show up for their hearings, said Somerset County Sheriff Frank J. Provenzano.

“I hope that our efforts during this statewide roundup will help to bring a little joy into the lives of many children for the holiday season,” said Provenzano, president of the Sheriffs’ Association of New Jersey, the lead agency in the raids.

Officers from the 21 sheriff’s departments in New Jersey, carrying warrants, fanned out in search of offenders. Helping make it possible, Provenzano said, were the judges who signed the warrants, and the New Jersey Office of Child Support Services, which supplied the names and other vital information.

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