If aldermanic candidate Marcus Paca sets foot in New Jersey, he can be jailed for not paying child support.
A judge in Somerset County, N.J., has signed a warrant for Paca’s arrest for falling behind on his child support.
The warrant, issued on July 13, does not extend outside of New Jersey. It directs police to arrest Paca (pictured) in that state unless he pays the latest $500 he owes on outstanding support bills that at last count reached $20,000 for two children with two different mothers in two states.
“It’s not a good thing,” said Vicinage Chief Probation Officer for Somerset County John Higgins, who confirmed that the warrant is active. Higgins provided a non-actionable copy of the warrant by email. The July 13 warrant is the third that has been issued for Paca in the last year, Higgins said.
Paca insisted in an interview that he did nothing wrong. He claimed that he has been keeping up with child support payments and that the warrant, which he hadn’t known about, is in error.
Paca is locked in a battle for Ward 24’s aldermanic seat in the Edgewood neighborhood, running against 22-year incumbent Liz McCormack. They face each other in a Democratic Party primary on Sept. 15.
The campaign between the two Democrats has become a proxy battle pitting competing camps within the city Democratic Party. While Paca has received the support of the mayor and top party officials, McCormack has secured the Ward 24 Democratic ward committee’s official endorsement as well as the backing of state legislators and several fellow aldermen critical of the DeStefano administration.
Paca is the second aldermanic candidate to have had an arrest warrant issued in his name this year. The first was West Rock’s Carlton Staggers, who was sought by police earlier this year for an alleged hit-and-run and for driving with a suspended license. He paid a fine and the charges against him were nolled earlier this month.
News of Paca’s ongoing child support problems initially came out in May, when the Independent reported that the candidate owed $20,000 to the mothers of his two children in different states. He has a 3‑year-old in New Jersey and a 10-year-old in Virginia.
Higgins said that there have been two previous warrants issued for Paca for missing child support payments. The first was on July 15 of last year. Paca was taken into custody for that warrant when he appeared in a New Jersey courthouse on Aug. 1 for another matter, Higgins said. Then on Sept. 17, another warrant was issued for the same reason. Paca turned himself in on Oct. 27 and paid up at that time.
Paca could be in for another arrest if he’s pulled over in New Jersey. “Any encounter with law enforcement” in New Jersey would mean an arrest for Paca, Higgins said. If he’s pulled over for having a tail light out, for example, New Jersey police would scan the records, find his warrant and arrest him, Higgins explained.
Higgins said that the warrant is the result of missed child support payments. At a June 12 hearing, a judge found that Paca had fallen behind and gave him a month to come up with $500. “There was a requirement that he make a lump sum payment by a certain date and that payment was not made,” Higgins explained.
By July 13, Paca had not sent in a payment and the warrant was issued, according to Higgins.
Higgins said that he could not reveal the total amount of money that Paca owes in child support. If Paca continues to miss payments, the charges will accrue, Higgins said. “ If you don’t pay, it’s going to go up.”
On Wednesday evening, Paca was sitting in the living room of his Maple Street home with his campaign manager, Cherice Dykes. He said that he was not aware that there was a warrant for his arrest.
“This isn’t right,” he said, looking at a copy of the warrant. (Click here to view it.) “I’ve been making my payments.”
Paca said that he made his last child support payment two weeks ago. “I make them every two weeks. It’s coming out of my check,” he said.
“My payments are up to date,” he said. “Obviously they got it late or processed it late.”
“Where’d this come from?” Dykes asked Paca.
“I don’t know, but why didn’t I get it?” Paca said.
“I know where this is coming from. Somebody’s stealing my mail,” Paca said.
Paca said that someone was “playing dirty.” He didn’t specify who. “I didn’t receive anything in the mail. No phone calls that I’m not making my payments.”
“We’re going to take care of this immediately,” he said. “It’s not going to have any effect on the election.”
“As a matter of fact, why don’t you go ahead and tell Eli [Greer] to drop this in the entire neighborhood and see what it gets him. I know that’s what’s next,” Paca said. Greer, a co-chair of the Ward 24 Democratic Committee, has been an outspoken supporter of McCormack.
Paca refused to answer further questions. “Are you a voter? Do you live in this neighborhood?” he asked. “If you’re not a constituent I don’t need to answer that.”
Previous coverage of the Ward 24 primary race:
• Ward Committee Backs McCormack
• A Proxy Battle?
• Challenger Takes On Edgewood Veteran
• Will Trees = Votes?
• Candidate Owes Child Support
• Mayor Sticks By Paca
Mr. Paca- Please remember you are a Dad. Perhaps you should consider being more active in your children's lives instead of devoting all this time and effort into becomming an Alderman. I would venture to guess that your various children need you more than the good people of Ward 24.
Also....from your final comment above, I gather you will only speak to those people that vote???? Gee, how discriminatory of you. I thought you would be willing to represent ALL of the people, not just the ones that you can benefit from.
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