Hughes
A Camby man will serve six years in prison for failing to pay nearly $200,000 in child support.
Jackie L. Hughes, 54, pleaded guilty to two counts of nonsupport of a dependent as both a Level 5 and as a Class C felony before Johnson County Superior Court 2 Judge Peter Nugent on Feb. 23. The Level 5 felony was from a 2018 case and the Class C felony was from 2008, a case where his probation was also revoked.
Hughes owes roughly $190,000 in unpaid child support between the two cases. The 2008 case included two children and the newer case included six, four of whom are still minors, according to a Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office news release.
Hughes pled guilty in both cases but could not reach an agreement with the prosecutor’s office on sentencing. Because of this, the sentence was up to Nugent, and at a hearing on Feb. 23, Hughes received sentences of three years on each case to be served consecutively, the news release says.
Prosecutors ask for prison time in child support cases for the worst of the worst — people who have had every opportunity to provide for their children and have refused to accept that responsibility over and over, Child Support Prosecutor Jennifer Pinnick said in a statement.
“When we ask for prison on a child support case, we must accept that support will not be paid from there, therefore we use this tool sparingly,” Pinnick said. “I’d like to think that this sentence sends a message to all non-custodial parents who fail to support their children that we will not give up. Their children matter to us.”
Hughes had been a fugitive since 2018. With help from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, Hughes was recently apprehended by Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office Investigator Joseph Wertzberger.
“Part of being a parent is accepting responsibility beyond yourself,” Wertzberger said in a statement. “It’s important that people are held accountable if they ignore those responsibilities.”
For Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner, “tough and tenacious” child support enforcement is a high priority, he said.
“Over the years we built the best child support enforcement team in the state and I am immensely proud of their dedication and their results,” Hamner said.
