1. (a) Failure to pay child support is also a federal crime and may be prosecuted as such pursuant to the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-521, and the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-187.

2. (b) To be eligible for prosecution under federal law, the following elements must be present:

   1. (1) The willful failure to pay a known child support obligation, which has remained unpaid for longer than one (1) year or, in the case of a felony prosecution, two (2) years, or the amount of the past due obligation is greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or in the case of a felony prosecution, ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for a child who resides in another state; or

   2. (2) An additional basis exists for the prosecution of the failure to pay child support as a felony if the:

      1. (A) Noncustodial parent has traveled in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to evade the support obligation; and
      2. (B) Obligation has remained unpaid for a period of one (1) year or longer or is greater than five thousand dollars ($5,000).

3. (c)

   1. (1) Cases meeting the criteria for this type of prosecution may be forwarded to designated Office of Child Support Enforcement staff for review and forwarding, if appropriate, to the United States Attorney’s Office for the federal district in which the custodial party resides.
   2. (2) The United States Attorney’s Office will exercise its prosecutorial discretion in determining whether to accept or decline a case for prosecution and the level at which an accepted case will be prosecuted.

Codification Notes: Section 2 of the Child Support Recovery Act of 1992 and the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 are codified at 18 U.S.C. § 228.