Deadbeat Dads Rounded Up in Dekalb

A Christmas week roundup of deadbeat dads in DeKalb County.

Some two dozen deputies and supervisors fanned out about 5:30 Wednesday afternoon, and by Thursday morning they'd netted ten arrests. "These were warrants of people--mostly men--who had been responsible for either abandoning their child or not paying child support," Sheriff's Sgt. Adrion Brown tells WSB.

Authorities started by pouring over hundreds of warrants. After filtering out men who are already in jail--or dead--deputies ended serving or attempting to serve about 114 warrants.

Bell says the number of arrests meets "normal expectations", given technicalities and limitations of the bench warrants.

He says they'll keep after the rest. "The bottom line is these guys have committed an offense, and a bench warrant has been issued for their arrest. So we will continue to try, yes," says Sgt. Bell.

Sheriff Thomas Brown orders these roundups once a year, usually around the holiday season, in an attempt to get money back to children who need it. In some cases, it happens quickly; in many deadbeat cases, the warrants include a "purge amount" that lets the men pay up to get out of jail.