My name is John P. Gates  and I have suffered through 13 years of litigation in the Palm Beach County Courts , all over a child (who will turn 17 this July)  that is not mine!

 

This endless abuse of the power of the child support agency here in Palm Beach County is nothing short of "mafia" type extortion , they have financially bankrupted me, forced me to move out of my apartment,

and beg my girlfriend for a place to live. I have been arrested for non-payment of child support , and spent 8 hours in the county jail , to the point of almost suffering epileptic seizures,  of which I have a history of. The experience of being handcuffed and locked up for 8 hours was very traumatic, especially WHEN I HAVE PROOF!!! THAT SHOULD ALLOW A DNA TEST ON THIS CHILD!!

 

My story begins in 1983:

                                  My ex-wife  and I were married in the state of Massachusetts  in October of 1983.  After 6 months of marriage she formed a "friendship" with my second cousin .

She soon started spending  a lot of time calling him, at home and at work. After a few months of her being a nuisance with the phone Rick's family , filed charges with the State of Mass. for harassment.

The State eventually dropped the charges,  but while all this was going on she informed me that she was pregnant. That was October of 1984.

On July 17, 1985  "our" child was born in Mass.  a normal healthy boy. But after only 8 months my ex-wife somehow convinced me to move to Florida.

We moved to Florida in 1986, but it wasn't long after that my ex-wife started screwing other guys and we divorced in 1989 (case #89-3359).

 

1990

This was the beginning of the endless litigation over this child.  This woman has been able to get away with violating visitation, changing addresses and phone numbers constantly, harassing me for money , and all the while ,filing motion after motion with the courts to get more money from me. So in 1992 my family hired an attorney to litigate the visitation issue and the harassment issue. This lawyer asked me if I knew of any "dirt" on her because she had been calling and harassing her to no end. The only thing I knew of was the phone harassment case in Mass. The next visit to my family I went to the Salem District Courthouse in Salem Mass. , as I was going through the file ,I found a letter that my ex-wife had written and mailed to Joan Gates  , Rick Gates' mother . I WAS SHOCKED!! WHEN I STARTED READING THIS LETTER , IN MY EX-WIFES OWN WORDS!! SHE CONFESSES THAT THE CHILD IS RICK'S AND NOT MINE!!   

You might think that with this evidence I could get a DNA test done? Not a chance! ,My-ex will not voluntarily co-operate with a test. I have spent thousands of $ on lawyers who claim I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!! But when I motioned the court with this evidence Judge John Phillips  just flat out refused to hear any evidence or grant me a hearing to present evidence!!  To this very moment I do not know if I am this child's father or not.  I am financially devastated  by the courts decisions, they are forcing me to pay $500.00 per month , which is $300.00 over and above what is required!!  I am just a carpenter and handyman , and anyone in my trade knows that there are slow periods of employment, sometimes customers don't pay when their supposed to , the wait for building permits alone can leave me financially strapped.  I doesn't matter to the  support dept. THEY WILL GET THEIR MONEY!! OR PUT ME IN JAIL AGAIN!! , SUSPEND MY LICENSE AGAIN AND AGAIN ,  ALL FOR A CHILD THAT I DID NOT CREATE!!!!!         WHERE IS THE JUSTICE !!

Please help me , any advice is greatly appreciated

                                                                           John P. Gates Jr .