ERIE COUNTY-The Sheriff’s Family Court Warrant Enforcement Unit completed its 15th annual operation Thursday during the Annual National Family Violence Apprehension Detail and Family Court Warrant Sweep according to the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.
Members of the family court warrant unit, the Civil Enforcement Division, and patrol Deputies all participated in the sweep and searched the City of Buffalo and Erie County for individuals wanted on active Family Court warrants including parents who fail to pay child support.
The Sheriff’s Office took part in the annual National Family Violence Apprehension Sweep along with over 400 other law enforcement agencies across the country. Although the operation is conducted in one day, the preparation for the raids requires weeks of work. Arrested were:
- 53-year-old Daniel Sokolofsky from Kenmore on a Family Court warrant.
- 41-year-old Kevin L. Williams from Buffalo on a Family Court warrant.
- 62-year-old Anthony Ross from Buffalo on a Family Court warrant.
- 24-year-old Xavier Boney from Buffalo on a Family Court warrant.
- 42-year-old Andrew R. Walter, Sr. from Angola on a Family Court warrant.
- 40-year-old Luis A. Pirela from Buffalo on a Family Court warrant.
The Sheriff’s Office reportedly made contact with three other warrant subjects in addition to the arrests, but their warrants have been rescinded in the past few days, and one subject is in custody at a separate facility, and they will be processed upon their release. These individuals reportedly owe thousands of dollars in back child support payments.
Sheriff Howard said the following: “Although my Family Court Warrant Unit is active throughout the year, these sweeps concentrate on some of our worst offenders to bring them in front of the courts and ensure the individual is living up to his or her responsibility to their children. These operations help the families and the taxpayers by bringing deadbeat dads and moms to justice.”
Following the guidance of the county-wide risk assessment, the Sheriff’s Office is now more frequently audited by the Erie County Comptroller. The most recent audit, being released today, focused on the Sheriff’s Office with regard to their policies and procedures regarding child support summonses and family court warrants. The purpose of the audit was to determine the adequacy of the policies and procedures used by the Sheriff’s Office to hold parents accountable for their obligations to their children.
“Deadbeat parents need to be held accountable. Children and mostly single moms suffer when parents do not honor their court ordered obligations to support their family. It is an honor to work with the Sheriff to ensure children are properly taken care of. We are sending a clear message to deadbeats that stiff their families: we will find you. And you will pay. One way or another, you will assuredly pay,” said Comptroller Mychajliw.
“Yesterday’s raid is the culmination of the process we audited. The Sheriff’s Office gets top marks for their controls and procedures regarding serving these warrants and today’s results are proof they are working.”
As a result of the audit, the Comptroller’s Office determined that the controls used to serve summonses and warrants were indeed adequate, offering suggestions to modify policies and procedures to continue to have adequate controls in the future.
“I’m happy to be part of something like this,” Mychajliw said. “We are following the guidance of our risk assessment and ensuring processes within the Sheriff’s Office are conducted properly, and in this case, the check and balance we provided helps children by holding deadbeat parents accountable to their responsibilities.”
“Today was a win-win for taxpayers and children who need our help.”
Deadbeat parents? You mean deadbeat dads… since I don’t see any mothers on that list.
The bais is strong here.
I see Comptroller Mychajliw supports mothers having 100% control of something that is only 50% theirs, in ordr to get that Title IV-D kickback from the social security act…way to go you deadbeat…
Also parental alienation which is directly respinsible for these father’s owing back child support, is in fact child abuse, so Comptroller Mychajliw supports not only the extortion of children like a pedophole but also direct child abuse en masse…
This antiquaited child extort system needs dismantled and those that serve it need imprisoned for curcumventkbg debtors prison with these incompetent pedophile judges and officers continuing the deadbeat system (anyone using this system for financisl gain is the real deadbeat…FACT)
Where are the names of the mothers who withhold court ordered visitation from fathers?? Oh that’s right they can’t be charged that matter has to be taken up in court. Which cost fathers $1,000 of dollars. What a biased system. What a failed system.
Yet you would help me when my son was with held from me for 6 months violating a court order, you didn’t prossecust a class A misdemeanor when a false police report was filed that didn’t match her er recoreds and even the detectives, er doctor, and cps said it was false. I’m glad to see you don’t give a shot about keeping fmailis together but splitting them up. It’s more benificical for kids to have both parents but you don’t step up when the happens. I’m not voting for you after this and I’m not leaving my name for you so you can destroy my sons life further
So you tell me you can’t get involved with domestic disturbances but you can be bothered with child support? Being behind in child support is not a violet crime. Why don’t you concentrate on legal matters that affect the community?
When your comptroller is guiding your enforcement of “Family Crimes” you have really screwed up.
It’d be great if you went after the felony perjuries that caused so many of these child support cases in the first place *cough* silver bullet *cough* ex parte protective orders *cough*.
What an incredible WASTE of taxpayer time, money, and resources! The family court racket is notoriously biased against fathers and this joke of a police department is complicit in their war against dads and the family. Get back to “serve and protect” you cowardly morons!
Deadbeat dads and moms. That’s as ignorant as saying cops hate blacks. My kids live at my house most of the time. I.e. Over 182 days a year and I still have to pay child support because I’m the male. I can’t claim them on my taxes, can’t apply for food stamps, not that I would accept them. And she’s the one that cheated on me. You try raising 3 kids, one of them not mine, he just needs a positive male role model as his current step-dad is a fanged felon. And pay taxes to moochers and child support to a person with borderline personality disorder.
You are everything that’s wrong with this country. The biggest determinate in whether or not you’re impoverished is whether or not your parents are still married and you INCENTIVICE women to break up families, which puts more people on welfare and makes more children suffer. You disgust me.
This is why child support needs a revamp. Why are they behind? Besides the mothers, who really gains? The children is not the answer either. When was the last time the support was amended to be within a reasonable amount? How many of these mothers are on state funded benefits? Is the amount of support reasonable every month or is it unreasonable, creating a poverty situation for the father? How on Earth are you going to have the father catch up his child support while he’s in jail? Why does the father get stripped of his rights and has to make up some calculated difference and then get punished if, God forbid, life happens? Job loss doesn’t just affect one parent even during a divorce. Health issues are the same. Glad to see we are so focused on something so completely out of date and mediocre that we can’t focus on trying to fix it and make it better. For the kids. I fully support my law enforcement but this is a bit ridiculous. Law enforcement won’t intervene when it comes to custody even with supporting docs but when it comes to money, they’re breaking down doors.
Exactly what I was going to say!!! More than true!!! Let’s see any court in the U.S take the lead in prosecuting Visitation violations!!
Hey everyone, look at the discriminatory, biased-based policing over here!
Equal protection under the law applies to some, but not all, apparently.
How is this different than targeting, say, illegal immigrants?
Thats a civil matter… duh
So has it become a yearly tradition in Erie County? To go after the “parents” (though we know that’s a constitutionally correct way of saying Dad’s because you don’t want any gender equality issues, correct?) How many moms on that list? How many of those fathers had their children taken from them by the courts? How many spent all their money fighting for their kids only to find out they never had a chance in court. How many lost their jobs because of always being in court?
Now Iunderstand there are many deadbeat parents. However, instead of being proud of doing an annual sweep of deadbeat dads, why not work to fix a system that creates deadbeat dads in the first place?