Most responsible adults in Buffalo provide for their children to the best of their abilities. This includes paying child support for kids the parents do not have custody over. Unfortunately, some parents do not live up to their responsibilities. They fall behind on child support, or seek to deny a biological connection.
However, few parents go to the extremes that one man did to avoid paying child support. According to WABC-TV, the man sent a lookalike to take a paternity test for him. The man recently pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to this fraud.
The man, who lives in the U.K., was in a long-term relationship when he had a “fling” with another woman in 2012. The woman became pregnant, and decided to keep the child.
The man denied that he was the father and refused to pay child support. Authorities requested that he provide a DNA sample, but instead of complying, he sent another man. This second man apparently looked enough like the father that the doctors who took the sample were fooled.
Somehow, authorities discovered the deception in June 2014, and the father was arrested for fraud. He was given a suspended prison sentence, plus fines and court costs. His attorney said that her client was “a young man who has made a big mistake.”
Of course, men sometimes have reason to believe that they are not actually the father of a child. This is what paternity tests are for. But parents should financially support their children if they need it.