Robert Sand, America’s ‘Most Wanted Deadbeat Dad,’ Arrested In Los Angeles

Authorities say a man dubbed America’s worst deadbeat dad was arrested this week after nearly a decade on the run.

According to ABC News, Robert Sand, 50, was apprehended by The United States Marshals Service in Los Angeles Tuesday. Originally from Long Island, New York, Sand owes more than $1.2 million in child support for his three children from two marriages. He was first ordered to pay child support in 1996 but fled the state and eventually the country, escaping to Thailand, where he reportedly ran ran several motorcycle and pizza businesses.

Before fleeing the United States, Sand allegedly would underreport his income to reduce his weekly payments, which amounted to $375 per child per week. The New York Post writes that he did this despite living a lavish lifestyle, and earning between $500,000 and $600,000 from automobile auctions.

The New York Daily news reports that Sand had been living in Thailand until November when he got in trouble with the law for falsifying a British passport.

The deadbeat was taken into custody in the Philippines and was deported to the United States on Tuesday, December 18.

“I’m very glad he’s back in the USA,” Sand’s 78-year-old mother Rita told Daily News. “I told him to stick it out, that you can’t get blood from a stone, but he said he didn’t have that kind of money to pay.”

“He made a terrible mistake leaving the country.”

Robert Sand, America’s most wanted deadbeat dad, is expected to be returned to Long Island federal court for an arraignment January 16.