Indiana Man Who Faked His Own Death To Avoid Paying Child Support Found Alive & Well At His Girlfriend's House
Faking your own death to avoid paying child support and then living the rest of your days at your girlfriend's house sounds like a foolproof plan. Of course, plans aren’t always executed perfectly and things can go sideways in a hurry.
An Indiana man's perfect plan fell apart when he was found alive and well at his girlfriend's house not long after an email was sent to a Washington County Child Support Administrator stating that he had died.
An Indiana man was found alive and well at his girlfriend's house after faking his own death to avoid paying child support. (Image Credit: Getty)
51-year-old Jeffrey Bell Jr. of Washington County was found alive in the northern part of the county, according to a Facebook post by the Indiana State Police, after an investigation which got underway in April 2024.
A detective met with the recipient of the email that informed the child support office "that due to Mr. Bell's death, a large amount of child support owed by Bell would go unpaid."
The detective also learned that Bell was allegedly alive and living with his girlfriend. When the detective went to the residence he encountered a man who denied being Bell. Despite the initial denial, the man was eventually identified as Jeffrey Bell Jr.
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This Indiana man's plans keep coming up well short of their intended goals
He was initially charged by the Washington County prosecutor with False Informing. He was then given a court date, which was set for last Thursday, January 23. But being the genius planner that he is, Bell was not in court in person.
He was appearing virtually because he was out of the state at the time. The only problem with that is, like supposedly being dead, he was not out of the state. In fact, he was at his girlfriend's house.
During the court proceedings, officials believed that Bell was appearing from his girlfriend's house, so they sent deputies out to investigate. The Facebook post adds, "Washington County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to the residence while the virtual meeting was ongoing."
"Information gained at the house after the officer's arrival confirmed Jeffrey Bell Jr. was inside the residence and not out of state, prompting presiding Judge Larry Medlock to order Bell taken into custody and transported immediately to his courtroom."
Another one of Jeffrey Bell Jr.'s brilliant plans was foiled by the police. Now, instead of just the one count of False Informing, he's been charged with three counts of Failing to Appear, and one count of Contempt of Court.
What's the next plan going to be for this guy? Whatever it is, it's unlikely to involve sitting at his girlfriend's house and pretending like there's an invisible force field around it protecting him from being found.
Not because that's likely a part of almost any plan he comes up with, but because he's being held in the Washington County Jail on a $100,000 bond for the False Informing charge and without bond for two of the Failure to Appear charges and the Contempt charge.