Thirty-nine Ohio counties are participating today in a round-up of parents who are delinquent in paying their court-ordered child support.

"Failure to pay child support is a crime and those who shirk their responsibilities are criminals," ODJFS Director Tom Hayes said. "If you do not pay child support we will find you, arrest you, throw you in jail and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."

Today's round-up is the eighth to be held in cooperation with counties across the state. The seven previous round-ups from 1997 to 2003 resulted in more than 1,600 arrests statewide. The round-ups are conducted in a cooperative effort between ODJFS, county child support enforcement agencies and the Buckeye State Sheriff's Association.

Counties participating in today's round-up include: Adams, Ashland, Belmont, Butler, Carroll, Crawford , Cuyahoga, Defiance, Fairfield, Franklin, Fulton, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hocking, Huron, Lake, Licking, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Marion, Mercer, Miami, Morgan, Noble, Pickaway, Preble, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Van Wert, Wayne, Wood and Wyandot.

The maximum sentence in a criminal non-support case is 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. The number of persons arrested today is still being tallied.

Ohio collected a record amount of more than $2 billion in child support in state fiscal year 2004. There are about 975,000 child support cases in the state. Ohio has the third largest child support caseload in the nation but ranks second in total collections and first in collections for non-public assistance cases.

For more information, contact the ODJFS Office of Communications at (614) 466-6650.