By Eric Parry
eparry@derrynews.com
—
DERRY — A Derry man is being held in county jail on charges of failing to pay child support for more than a decade to his ex-wife and four children in Andover.
David Cuomo was arrested Wednesday and a hearing was held in Derry District Court April 16. Family Court Judge Paul Moore ordered Cuomo held on $128,000 bail.
Cuomo, 57, offered little explanation in court when Moore asked him why he had not paid child support. He said he was unable to find a job that would allow him to make payments.
He has missed several court hearings in New Hampshire in recent months. In 1999, Cuomo appeared at a hearing in Lawrence Family Court for not paying child support. He told the court he had to leave to make a phone call. He left and never came back.
"I've never had any luck going into any court through this whole divorce," Cuomo said.
Cuomo's ex-wife, Deborah, told the court he has avoided having any relationship with their four children. Along with child support payments, the Cuomos' separation agreement calls for him to pay half of their children's college education. Three have graduated and the youngest is in school.
"If I add everything together, he owes me a quarter-million dollars," she told the judge.
Cuomo said he was never able to make the $375 per week child support payments ordered by the court, but would sometimes pay a lesser amount.
Cuomo was arrested in Windham in a sting operation conducted by the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department. Authorities were unable to contact Cuomo at his 16 Village Brook Lane home in Derry, so they set up a phony job for a cleaning business on Ryan Farm Road in Windham.
According to the town's assessing records, Cuomo's 2,500-square-foot home was purchased in 2007 for $310,000. Deborah Cuomo told the court her ex-husband paid $60,000 as a down payment, but he said that money came from his current wife.
Cuomo is scheduled to appear again in Derry Family Court on May 25 for a review hearing.
