LOUISVILLE, KY, Nov. 16, 2011: James Richardson has been faithfully making his child support payments since 1984. However, the catch, here, is that he was suppose to stop paying when his two boys turned 18 years old. They became adults in 1984 and 1985. But James, like any good citizen who respects his government and does not like rocking the boat, did not make hay of the continuing deductions from his paychecks. Later in years, the deductions continued from his social security checks. And, like many folks, he did not challenge the periodic letters from the Illinois Dept. of Health & Family Services (DHFS) stating that he was still overdue, in arrearage of his payments. (His ex-wife moved to Illinois after they separated.)

But by 2011, after approx. 27 years of paying child support, even he finally thought to himself, "Something is wrong, here." That's when he asked his friend, Daniel Cobble, to look into this situation. Mr. Cobble began a basic query by simply having Richardson to ask for the payment records from DHFS and the Louisville Social Security Administration (SSA) (see the documents below). But thus far, both the state and federal agencies have been elusive, with no response from DHFS and only form-letters from SSA, such as the Nov. 9, 2011-dated letter, below.

What makes this situation so pathetic for these corrupt officials is that in Sept. 2011 Richardson received two checks from Social Security, of $2,613.50 and $1,742.20 (see bank statement, below), apparently as a partial refunds of the $31,000 in overpayments (not including interest). But to Richardson's surprise, the $100 deductions continued in October 2011 (see SSA's Nov. 9 letter, below), which prompted him to call Mr. Cobble. -- It is as though DHFS decided that Richardson's gravy-train was too good to stop. Since Richardson had not balked at the payments even after his sons became of age some 26 years ago (1985), then why allow him to stop the payments now if he won't complain? 

The next step, here, is to contact the Social Security Administration, in Baltimore, MD, to request the remainder of his refund and have the payments stopped. DHFS and the Louisville SSA officials are committing fraud, extortion, and mail fraud.

You can help, too, by contacting: Social Security Administration, Office of Public Inquiries, Windsor Park Building, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235. Or call 1-800-772-1213 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.