Meet America's Worst Deadbeat Dad-23 Kids, 14 Moms, and We Get To Pay For Them ALL! (and him, too!)

Is This America's Worst Deadbeat Dad?

From the above article,

A Michigan man who has allegedly fathered 23 children with 14 women has been sentenced to up to four years in prison for failing to support his offspring.

Court records show that Howard Veal, 44, owes at least $533,000 to the mothers of his children, ABC News reported. Judge Dennis Leiber, a veteran of two decades of dealing with child support cases, told Veal at sentencing in Kent County he is the "poster child for irresponsibility."

Under Michigan guidelines, deadbeat dads would normally be sentenced to no more than six months. Leiber imposed a 23-to-48-month sentence, granting a prosecution request to exceed the guidelines."


Where to start, so many debatable issues.

First and foremost, here we have the ultimate example of male reproductive rights, and the man who exercised those rights 23 times, to the tune of over half a million back child suport dollars. Anyone who argues men have no reproductive rights, I give you Howard Veal.

Second, we have fourteen mothers, so some of them had more than one child with this man. Are these mothers blameless? So we have this man who cannot support his kids, but why are the mothers not going to jail too? Either the kids are being supported or not. If the mothers are supporting them, why is the father going to jail instead of being forced to work? How is he supposed to ever be employable with a possible four year prison record? Does this make sense?

If the moms cannot support the kids, why are they not in jail too then?

I think four years is ridiculous, especially since we are assuming complete innocence on the parts of the 14 mothers who procreated with this man.

And now these 23 poor kids have a jailbird for a dad. Just because someone cannot pay cash for their kid does not mean that kid does not need and love their parent regardless.

I think the judge came down way too hard, and now to add insult to injury on the whole mess, taxpayers not only have to support the kids because daddy won't but they have to support daddy in jail too!

Does anyone else think this judge went overboard?

What does this accomplish in the long run, but to possibly ruin the kids relationships with the fellow?

And again, what responsibility to the mothers bear in all this?

The daily mail quoted one mom as saying,

"Mr Veal’s pleas didn’t move Miss Black, the 38-year-old mother of two of his children, aged 16 and 11, who was delighted to see him going to prison.

She said: 'My daughter doesn’t even know him. I’m pleased he’s been jailed but, I’d rather have him pay the money. Now my taxes will go to support him in prison.

'When I think about it, my children were in prison, too - a prison of poverty'


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk...

This woman's comments make me sick. Her kids do not know him yet she managed to squeeze out two of them with the man. She laid down with him and now i delighted that her kids father in prison? Gee what a stellar attitude. And why is it his fault your kids ar ein a prison of poverty lady? Half those bars come from you!

Any thoughts on this extreme case?

reply to post by hotbakedtater


while i'm skeptical of the 'men's rights movement' this is probably overboard. this man didn't commit any violent act, how is locking him up going to help support those children? i want to adress a really freaking interesting point you made about the moms though.....

holy sh*** i never thought of it this way. why is it that a mom who doesn't adequately provide for her child always remains free when the dad who left the picture can go to jail? one answer is easy, the mom is atleast doing 'something' as long as she has custody. she probably provides some sort of minimal support. a dad who is out of the picture and sends 0 money is doing nothing.

so i guess its not the criminilization of not doing enough its the criminalization of doing nothing.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


I like your take on it and agree about the partial blame falling on the mothers.

Some people just have a problem that is out of the normal boundaries of known psychology. Do you think a man who has soo many kids has a god complex, or is compensating for something he lacked as a child?

I wondered that myself, why in the world someone would want to have so many children, knowing that it would be highly next to impossible to pay for so many on his own.

But maybe in his mind he was assuming the mothers were going to pull thier half of the weight, and so if the state steps in and pulls his part, what crime has he truly commited?

I wonder too if humanity in general knows that there is some kind of event coming down the pipeline that may well wipe up near extinction, so some kind of intenal instinctual biological preservation kicks in? And some people just procreate like mad.

I do not know.

I wonder if it doesn't make him feel powerful to kow his genetics are going to stay in the gene pool so much longer (probably statistically ) because he has so many kids.

And who is to say he is done!~

reply to post by hotbakedtater

I wonder too if humanity in general knows that there is some kind of event coming down the pipeline that may well wipe up near extinction, so some kind of intenal instinctual biological preservation kicks in?

There is an event, death. It IS normal for all of us to have a biological drive to pro create. However in this case I think it comes down to pure laziness on the part of the man and the women, too damn lazy to put on a condom.

Agree the sentence is ridiculous. How could anyone possibly make enough money to pay child support for 23 kids??? Bottom line is that the state will always have to subsidize, and now they can subsidize his living expenses too.

If you father children and elect to not raise them together with the mother then you should have to pay some kind of support, but that in no ways absolves you of being a father.

Does anyone else see any irony when comparing Mr Veal, father of 23, to Octomom Nadya Shulman, who has fourteen kids and is being evicted as we speak?

She too had a litter of kids she cannot afford nor care for, why is she not in jail?

But this man is?

Originally posted by hotbakedtater
Does anyone else see any irony when comparing Mr Veal, father of 23, to Octomom Nadya Shulman, who has fourteen kids and is being evicted as we speak?

She too had a litter of kids she cannot afford nor care for, why is she not in jail?

But this man is?

I distinctly heard a round of applause after I read this post.

stupid is as stupid does, which is a stupid saying.