Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Five Years of Probation For Failing to Pay Child Support

Contact: Halsey B. Frank
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that James Christopher Blyler, 38, of Hanover Pennsylvania, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Judge D. Brock Hornby to five years of probation for failing to pay child support. He was also ordered to pay $71,252.87 in restitution representing his total arrearage to date.  Blyler was arrested on October 6, 2014 and has been detained since then.  He pled guilty on October 28, 2014.

According to court documents, on April 20, 2004, Blyler was ordered by a Maine district court to pay $165 per week toward the support of his child until the child reached the age of 18 in 2017.  Shortly after the order issued, Blyler left Maine to live in other states including Texas, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  In May of 2010, Blyler pleaded guilty to failing to pay child support and was sentenced to three months in prison and one year of supervised release.

Blyler’s probation conditions require him to pay his restitution obligation and court-ordered child support.  In explaining the sentence, Judge Hornby observed that Blyler had been detained for five months, explained that the statutory purposes of criminal punishment include getting defendants to pay restitution and getting parents to pay child support.  Judge Hornby admonished Blyler to take the opportunity to make things right and warned him that if he violated probation he would go to prison.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Child Support: Division of Support Enforcement & Recovery.