Poker player held in child support case

[clevfan]

Poker player held in child support case

$171,000 owed, prosecutor says

By MIKE JOHNSON
journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 7, 2008

Waukesha - A professional poker player from Las Vegas is cooling his heels in the Waukesha County Jail on allegations that he refuses to ante up at least $160,000 in child support he owes.

Scott A. Obst, 39, has skipped out on his obligations to his son since 2005, even though his income topped $400,000 annually, according to court records.

"Here we have a mom and son just getting by while the dad's out in Vegas living the high life," said Peter M. Wolff, the attorney for the woman. "It tells you what kind of deadbeat he is."

Wolff said he has been involved in the case for more than a year and worked with authorities on finding Obst, who was difficult to locate. "Hopefully, it paid off," Wolff said.

Obst was charged in August with four felony counts of failure to support a child but didn't appear in Waukesha County Circuit Court to face the charges until this week. He waived extradition from Nevada and returned to Wisconsin voluntarily.

The case goes back to 1991, when Obst was ordered to pay child support in a paternity case for the son he fathered with a woman 17 years ago.

In 2003, Obst went to the state Court of Appeals to challenge a lower court's ruling that increased his child support from $1,500 a month to $4,000 a month.

But the appeals court refused to overturn the lower court's decision. The appeals court's decision notes that "until recently Scott had done everything to avoid financial responsibility under the judgment of paternity."

That included not "fully and truthfully" disclosing his income to the mother and trial court, the appeals court said. Appeals court records indicate Obst's income exceeded $425,000 a year.

Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Barbara A. Michaels, who is prosecuting the case, said Obst owes $171,498 in back support - $160,000 to the woman and her son and the remainder to the state because the woman had received state aid.

A criminal complaint says Obst failed to make payments June 2005 through February 2006 and July 2006 through March 19, 2007.

After Obst appeared in court Wednesday, Court Commissioner Laura Florian Lau set bail at $160,648.41, the amount he owes the mother.

And because Obst is behind on child support in the civil case, Court Commissioner Thomas Pieper ordered Obst to spend 120 days in jail. He can avoid that time if he pays $15,000, court records show.

Wolff, the attorney for the mother, said that in addition to poker earnings, Obst has earnings from work in adult film distribution.