BROCKTON, Mass. (WHDH) -- Two ex-wives stood together, asking a judge to make their ex-husband pay almost $500,000 in child support.
They said they've spent more than ten years trying to track down Stephen Cantrell. The 49-year-old man who used to live in Brockton faces six felony charges on failure to pay child support.
The judge in this Brockton court rejected a plea from his attorney that could have meant a reduced penalty.
“He has next to no money. He works as a bartender, makes about 350 dollars a week. He has for the foreseeable past,” said Cantrell’s attorney, Steven Goldwyn.
His ex-wives said they wanted something more aggressive. Cindy Cassidy, his first ex-wife, said she has gone 12 years without a check for their two sons, who are now 22 and 25 years old.
“But we're lucky. As my one son put it, we're a success story because they've done well in spite of not getting the child support that he should have paid all these years,” said Cassidy.
Cantrell has a third son with his second ex-wife, Sharon Cantrell. Corey Cantrell, 17, said it was difficult to come face-to-face with him in court.
“I haven't seen him since I was five so it was just hard to see him. I would ask him why, how could you leave your son…your sons, any of them, I would never do that, ever if I had a kid,” said Corey.
The judge's recommendation today: a two-and-a-half year prison sentence unless Cantrell can provide a check for $50,000, which would reduce his prison time. But for a family, it won't make up for the years lost.
“I started crying when he came in. I just feel sorry that he made a bad decision and that he kept making the bad decision for 12 years,” said Sharon Cantrell.
