I-Team

<b>I-Team:</b> Deadbeat Dad James Bartley

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I-Team: Deadbeat Dad James Bartley

By John Mercure

MILWAUKEE - A habitual deadbeat dad the TODAY’S TMJ4 I-Team first exposed almost two years ago is back in trouble with the law. When TODAY’S TMJ4’s John Mercure first caught up with James Bartley in early 2007, Bartley was less than cordial. "You know I wish I didn’t have these handcuffs on. I'd choke you," Bartley snarled at Mercure. Bartley was arrested because he owed two teenage daughters $128,000. Mercure tried to speak to him. John: "Why don't you pay your child support?" James: "Why don't you go **** yourself?" John: "You owe over $128,000." James: "What are you? What are you, a ****in' accountant?" Bartley eventually got out of jail, and guess what? He stopped paying his child support again. Under the terms of his probation, that means he was supposed to go back to jail. We discovered that wasn't happening. When we asked the Wisconsin Department of Corrections why, they claimed they couldn't find Bartley. We were able to find him at the same northern Illinois address he's lived at for years. We asked Mary Jane Anttila with the D.O.C. about that fact. John: "Is there a breakdown in the system if a TV crew can find out where a guy lives, and law enforcement, tax dollars, the D.O.C. can't find out where a guy lives?" "Well, I can't comment on that, but sometimes we're not aware where someone is,” Anttila said. After that conversation with the D.O.C., Bartley was picked up. He could now end up in prison for failing to pay his child support. The latest check of child support records indicates that Bartley now owes more than $200,000 in back child support.