In this undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows Robert Sand. Once dubbed by prosecutors as the government's most wanted deadbeat parent, Sand pleaded guilty Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 in Central Islip, N.Y. to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
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In this undated photo released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows Robert Sand. Once dubbed by prosecutors as the government's most wanted deadbeat parent, Sand pleaded guilty Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 in Central Islip, N.Y. to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
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A judge on Friday delayed the arraignment of the man charged with the Colorado theater shooting until March despite objections from prosecutors and most of the victims and their families. (Jan. 11)
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FILE- In this Nov. 13, 2008 file photo, fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander appears at his sexual assault trial in Los Angeles. Alexander has pleaded guilty in New York City to molesting a woman he baited with the promise of modeling work. Alexander admitted to one count of criminal sexual act Thursday. He was sentenced to five years in prison. He already was convicted in California of similar charges and was sentenced there to 59 years to life. Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal says he also is facing new charges in Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)
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Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway leaves federal court in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, with her husband, Michael Kingsley, left, and attorney Steve Fishman after pleading guilty to bank fraud. Hathaway was charged three days before quitting the court because of the scandal. Hathaway pleaded guilty to bank fraud for concealing assets, including a debt-free Florida home, while urging a bank to let her unload a Michigan house in a short sale, claiming financial hardship. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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Former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway leaves federal court in Ann Arbor, Mich., Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, with her husband, Michael Kingsley, after pleading guilty to bank fraud. Hathaway was charged three days before quitting the court because of the scandal. Hathaway pleaded guilty to bank fraud for concealing assets, including a debt-free Florida home, while urging a bank to let her unload a Michigan house in a short sale, claiming financial hardship. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
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Mathew Martoma, center, former SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund portfolio manager exits Manhattan federal court, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in New York. Martoma was arrested on charges that he helped carry out the most lucrative insider trading scheme in U.S. history. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)
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FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram shows Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting. A military judge was expected Thursday to give an official order for a forcible beard shaving for Hasan. An appeals court has said Hasan can appeal that order, thus triggering another delay in his upcoming murder trial. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department via The Temple Daily Telegram, File)
NY man dubbed No. 1 deadbeat parent pleads guilty
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (
AP) — A New York man once dubbed by prosecutors as the
government's most wanted deadbeat parent pleaded guilty Thursday to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages.
Robert Sand, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Long Island to two counts of failing to pay child support. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Bode said in court that the child support orders, which were issued on Long Island, have been in arrears since at least 2002.
The figure cited by Bode includes interest and penalties. The prosecutor declined to comment to reporters after the court proceeding.
Sand told the judge he fled first to Florida and then to Thailand Sand's attorney, Glenn Obedin, said his client had grown tired of living on the run and contacted authorities late last year.
Sand left Thailand, where he had worked in an assortment of odd jobs, and flew to the Philippines. He was arrested and then deported from the Philippines in November 2012 because he lacked proper identification, prosecutors said. He was sent to Los Angeles, where he was arrested by federal marshals, and then extradited to New York, where he has been held without bail since December.
"He had enough and wanted to come back and have the opportunity to make it right," Obedin told reporters after the court proceeding on Long Island.
Sand faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced in May.
"Neither court orders nor the familial bond meant anything to him as he fled to avoid his obligations," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
The two mothers of Sand's three children were not in the courtroom for Thursday's proceeding, but Obedin has said he has contacted them and claimed their priority is for Sand to be free to earn a living so he can repay his debt. As part of the plea agreement, Sand is required to make full restitution. He waived his right to appeal the guilty plea.
Obedin said Sand has worked in the past as a car salesman and has an offer to work in that field when he is released.
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