Former NFL Star Bennie Blades Pays over $1 Million in Child Support Yet Is Jailed for Being a 'Deadbeat Dad'

"Nobody who knows me well can ever say I wasn't a father to these kids."--former NFL Star Bennie Blades

"They couldn't be any closer"--the mother of one of Blades' children, describing the boy's relationship with Bennie Blades, his father


How can a man pay $1.3 million after-tax dollars in child support and then be arrested for being a "deadbeat dad"? It happened to former NFL star Bennie Blades in 2005.

Blades was working as a substitute teacher in Broward County, Florida when he was arrested. His football career was cut short by a painful injury, and even his NFL retirement pension was taken from him for child support.  Blades was by all accounts a dedicated father, who was even publicly praised by his exes after his arrest.

Blades certainly made mistakes. However, the child support system and family law system often milks high-earners with transitory incomes, such as professional athletes and entertainers, leaving them with little after their careers are over. During Blades career he was paying half his after-tax income in child support.

As Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg explains in his column below, Blades has a strong relationship with his children. His mistreatment at the hands of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is outrageous, and symbolizes much of what's wrong with the child support system.

In the eyes of the state, Bennie Blades is a deadbeat dad
Detroit Free Press, 4/29/05

DETROIT _ On Feb. 17, at the behest of the State of Michigan, police arrested a substitute teacher at Piper High School in Sunrise, Fla.

The substitute teacher spent a week in Broward County Jail in Florida. Then he was shipped off to Michigan _ almost two weeks on a bus, stopping only to eat fast food or bologna sandwiches at jails along the way.

He was not allowed to bathe or brush his teeth. As the bus transported accused criminals throughout the Eastern states, he was forced to sit all day and night, which was extremely painful because the substitute teacher has chipped vertebrae in his neck, an injury he suffered when he played safety in the NFL.

"I'm like, `This is very humiliating,'" recalled Bennie Blades, a Detroit Lions star from 1988-96. "You had to eat with your hands shackled basically down to your lap."

When he arrived in Michigan on March 8 _ 19 days after his arrest _ Blades was still wearing the same Old Navy blue jeans, printed blue shirt and white Pumas he was wearing when he was arrested.

Now Blades, who has been released on bail, faces two charges. The first is felony non-support for his daughter Ashley, who lives with her mother, Yolande Healey, in Southfield, Mich. At one point, Blades owed nearly $400,000 in child support for Ashley. She is one of his six children with six women.

The other charge is for failing to appear at a Jan. 7 court hearing in the case.

Mix those ingredients together: Former NFL star. Nine million dollars in career earnings. Six kids with six women. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in child support.

And a state attorney general who has made deadbeat dads a top priority.

And one mother who wants Blades to pay up.

And three other mothers who say he doesn't have the money.

Oh, and don't forget those six kids. Please don't forget them.

They all had something at stake that February day when the cops showed up at Piper High. And as Bennie Blades was whisked out of the school parking lot, he didn't bother asking what he should do with his car, a 1994 Honda Accord with more than 135,000 miles on it.

"We just left it there," Blades said with a laugh. "I don't think anybody is going to steal that."

When Blades was first arrested for this case, in November 2003, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox received a rousing standing ovation from himself.

"Once again let me send this message: Deadbeats that shirk their parental responsibilities risk incarceration," Cox said in a press release. "Whether that parent works in construction or played safety for the Detroit Lions, failure to pay child support will have consequences."

It is easy to paint Blades as a villain.

That is, if you're looking for villains.

But what if you are more worried about Bianca Blades, Bennie's 11-year-old daughter, who sees her dad regularly?

Bianca's mother, a woman named Sarah Brown, said she just wanted a fair shake from the system.

"I've just had it with these people," Brown said. "I hate Cox. I do. It hurts my daughter to go through this. I don't see where the system protects the child whatsoever. What gives the state the right to put her dad in jail if he's trying to pay her? It's so frustrating.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm very disappointed in Bennie. But if I can't gain anything from him, I'm not going to slap him in the face if he's willing to work."

Brown said Blades obviously didn't have much money.

She isn't the only one saying that.

"Trust me, there is no money hiding anywhere, offshore money or anything like that," said Carol Jamerson, who also has a daughter with Blades. "He truly does not have the money."

And Nikki Doby, who has a son with Blades, said this: "I would be shocked. One of the things he explained is that if he has a new pair of shoes, people question where he gets that. You have to be able to buy for yourself. You can't be expected to live in poverty."

You can't be expected to live in poverty.

Wait a second.

That wasn't in Cox's press release.

"It's not a matter of me believing them or not," Cox said. "He (Blades) agreed that he had another $30,000. He's in a better position than those three women, I would think, about what money he has."

Cox points to Blades' plea agreement last August. Blades said he could pay $30,000 in addition to the balance of his NFL pension (about $170,000).

If Blades didn't have any money, why did he agree to the plea deal?

"He didn't really have an option," said Blades' attorney, David Burgess. "The defense's ability to pay is no longer allowed to be argued under the statute."

Cox acknowledged that, "in order to convict him, his ability to pay doesn't matter." But he said Blades could have brought up his ability to pay at sentencing.

But even then "he is still guilty of a felony!" Burgess said. "His comment as to `you could argue the ability to pay at sentencing' is disingenuous. If a prosecutor knows somebody does not have the funds to pay a certain amount, then they are under an ethical obligation to not pursue the prosecution."

Burgess had other reasons to settle. In Blades' first trial (which ended in a hung jury), Burgess argued that Blades' first attorney should have gotten a deal that lowered his payments. But the judge in the second trial disallowed that argument.

"He was forced into a corner," Burgess said. "He was compelled to do it. They wouldn't budge on it. I was being denied the only defense I used in the first trial, and they knew it."

Cox and his spokespeople say Blades' fame had nothing to do with their case against him. Blades had attended 14 straight child-support hearings before he missed the one in January. The attorney general made no attempt to find out why or to reschedule. He simply sent the cops to Piper High to put Blades on a bus back to Michigan.

Burgess said neither he nor Blades received a notice of the hearing; the attorney general's office disputed that.

"You have an obligation to abide by all court orders," said Allison Pierce, Cox's spokeswoman.

Now where were we?

Oh, right.

The kids.

"You can call it irresponsible for having the kids so close together from so many different women," Blades said. "I was always taught, regardless of whether you're being irresponsible, as long as you live up to your responsibility, you're being a man. Nobody who knows me well can ever say I wasn't a father to these kids."

Oh, you can say "six kids with six women," throw the numbers at Blades and see if they stick. It's understandable.

But do him one favor.

Use their names.

Child No. 1, 20-year-old H.B., is a linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh. Bennie helped raise him, visits him at school and maintains a good relationship with him.

Child No. 2, 14-year-old Ashley, lives in Southfield, Mich. Her mother is the one who pursued the child-support case against Blades.

But Blades' main complaint is that he doesn't get to see Ashley enough. He finally saw her two weekends ago when his mother and sister bought her a plane ticket so Ashley could visit Blades in Florida for the weekend.

Before the trip, Blades said he was worried Healey wouldn't let Ashley visit him. He said it had happened before.

"If her mom doesn't put her on a plane, there is really nothing you can do," Blades said. "The court says `reasonable visitation,' but if it's not a set in stone, the mom can use the child as a pawn whenever they feel like it."

When she answered her phone last week, the mother, Healey, asked to be called back in 15 minutes. She did not answer her phone again despite numerous attempts over the past week, and her voicemail was full.

Child No. 3 is 12-year-old Jalen. Blades said he did not see him, mostly because he couldn't track down Jalen's mother, Kimberly Simpson. (The Detroit Free Press also was unable to find her.)

"They make it like it's a mystery" where they are, "but they run into courts all the time for money," Blades said. "I don't understand. You don't let me see the kid, but you don't mind taking me to court."

Child No. 4 is 12-year-old Amber. She lives in Miami with her mom, Jamerson.

"He sees her every other weekend, just about," Jamerson said. "And for the whole summer he has her. As long as he plays some type of role in my daughter's life, I'm happy with that. He has done the best he could. I would give him a pretty good mark on being a father."

Child No. 5 is 11-year-old Bianca. She lives near Blades in Florida, and "they talk to each other, they see each other, they communicate," said Brown, Bianca's mom.

Child No. 6 is 7-year-old Tylan (nicknamed B.J.), who lives in Detroit.

"They couldn't be any closer," said Doby, Tylan's mom.

Doby said when Blades received an injury settlement from the Lions, "He is the one that called me and told me about the settlement. He told me to call a lawyer. He said, `I want to make sure you know it is coming and make sure B.J. is entitled to some of that money.'"

Many times, Blades has told Doby he is worried B.J. won't have enough money for college.

What kind of deadbeat dad does that?

"We have worked out a parenting program, and it has worked well," said Jamerson, a postal clerk in Miami. "I don't expect him to pay the amount of money he paid when he was in the league. He does what he can, and that's enough for me."

Healey obviously has different expectations. And while Cox says he is pursuing justice for Healey's daughter, the other mothers say Healey's case has only added to the problem.

"She went and sued for the last dollars," Doby said.

Jamerson said: "The reason why I'm not getting anything is because of this one case. Everything is going to this one child. But I wouldn't take food out of that child's mouth to modify my case. I try to keep the system out of my life as much as possible. He supports her emotionally, mentally. That's good enough for me. I don't sweat the financial part of it.

"You cannot get blood from a turnip."

Ah, but you can try. As part of Blades' settlement, Healey gets his $170,000 NFL pension.

The entire pension went to one child, along with the $30,000 that Blades says he doesn't have.

Burgess said one reason Blades agreed to the $30,000 figure was that he didn't think Healey would be able to touch the pension until 2011, when Blades turned 45.

"I don't know the rationale of why he said he had 30 more," Cox said. "She is not looking to punish him forever. She is looking out for her 14-year-old."

The state secured the pension for Healey. Now Blades must pay taxes on the $170,000 that was withdrawn _ and because he is only 38, he has to pay an early-withdrawal penalty, too.

"They screwed him so much," Brown said. "And one child is benefiting from it."

Then she said the most extraordinary thing.

"The attorney general didn't know there was more than one child."

A few years ago, when Brown saw that Blades' money was running out, she tried to plug the drain.

She said she tried getting liens on his property, but courts prevented her from doing so.

She remains angry at the course this has run since 1999. For a few years, as the payments were reduced to a trickle, nobody took action on behalf of the kids.

And when the state finally took action (after Cox took office in 2003 and promised to go after deadbeat dads), she said the action itself actually hurt most of the kids.

Blades "created the problem, but the system didn't help the problem," Brown said. "They could have done things to protect the children, and they didn't do it."

Around the time Blades was arrested, in November 2003, Brown said she spoke with somebody in Cox's office.

"I said, `I am a mother to one of the children, and I want to know if this is my case that nobody notified me about,'" Brown said. "I said I had a child by Bennie, and he is $195,000 short.

"They go, `Well, we didn't know your daughter existed.' I said, `How can you not know if it's in your system?' They said, `Are there any more children?' And I named them.

"The next day in the paper _ I could not believe the audacity they had _ they said, `Six kids with six mothers.' I was so mad. I said, `They didn't even know about it, and now they're gloating about it?'"

Cox's spokeswoman, said: "I couldn't comment on that or respond to Ms. Brown's comment. My court file clearly talks about six different children that Mr. Blades has."

The attorney general's office asked Brown whether she wanted to pursue charges against Blades. She said no. She didn't want her child's father hauled off to jail when she thought he was doing the best he could.

"To me, a hundred bucks a month was better than nothing for four years," Brown said. "I said, `I'm not going to prosecute until I know he has something. If he has it, go get it. Why are we going through all of this?'"

Brown also said she was fearful of how Blades might get the money. She also said she was told that she didn't have to pursue charges in order to reap benefits.

A Cox spokesman, Stu Sandler, said Brown requested their help in January of this year. Brown said she did it only because she wanted a portion of the pension, which she previously thought was off-limits.

"She has been kind of all over the board on whether she wants to collect money or not," Cox said.

Actually, she has been very clear about wanting to collect money. She just hasn't been able to navigate through the system properly in order to do it. And now she is in danger of ending up with very little child support.

When Cox announced the arrest of Blades in November 2003, he said, "records of the Broward County Property Appraisers' Office show that Mr. Blades engaged in several real estate transactions between 1995 and 2001."

But Blades said he no longer owned those properties. They had been sold or seized by the Internal Revenue Service. He lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Plantation, Fla., with his wife, Linda, and her two children. Linda works as a human-resources manager for a security company and pays the $1,500-per-month rent out of her salary.

Blades, who last played in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks in 1997, said he would like to finish his college degree (he needs to take two more classes at the University of Miami), pursue a teaching certificate and become a full-time teacher.

"Why is a healthy 38-year-old not doing anything other than a part-time job?" Cox asked.

Where did all of Blades' money go?

Blades said he made approximately $9 million in his 10-year NFL career. That might seem like all the money in the world. That's what Blades thought, too. He was wrong.

"Just take a $9-million figure," Blades said. "Forty percent, right off the bat, goes to Uncle Sam. And then the state and local taxes. Let's say 50 percent of your money is already gone. You're down to $4.5 million, averaging about $450,000 a year. Just in child support I was paying almost $17,000-$18,000 a month."

Burgess said Blades already had paid more than $1.3 million in child support. According to court records, $243,000 has gone to Ashley Healey.

And then there were the house and gifts for his parents.

And there were the down payments on cars and houses for his siblings. Blades has six.

And Blades said his former agent, Mel Levine, bilked him of more than $350,000. (The charge was never proved, but Levine went to jail after admitting he faked tax returns, forged refund checks and doctored financial statements to scam almost $2 million from various people.)

And there were other bad investments.

And, yes, at the peak of his career, Blades spent too much himself.

Anyway, the point is not that it's easy to go through all that money. The point is that, by almost all accounts, he did.

"I'm not asking anybody to feel sorry for me, having spent millions of dollars," Blades said. "I'll do it all over again to take care of my parents and brothers and sisters and my kids. I'm not asking for all of that.

"I'm just asking for people to be fair. There are millions of athletes and entertainers and doctors and lawyers that go broke. That's just a part of life. Don't look down on me for being who I was back then. Just judge me as a man right now. I do what I can for my kids," he said.

Maybe you can't muster any sympathy for Blades. Maybe you can't get past the six kids with six women.

But ask yourself this:

What should the system do? Punish him for having six kids? Punish him for not having any money left?

Or try to find an equitable solution for everybody?

"Is there a lot the system could have done?" Cox asked. "Yeah. Ten years ago. All of us _ the press, the attorney general, the general public, the judicial system _ could take these matters more seriously and go after people as soon as they start falling behind.

"If the system would have held him accountable early on, everyone would have been better off. When you have to call a lawyer to prosecute some guy for not paying child support, there has already been a breakdown in the system."

On that everybody seems to agree.

"Bennie is a victim of an imperfect system," said Burgess, his lawyer.

For now, the substitute teacher will continue to work and try to scrape together $30,000, battle the criminal charges and avoid a long stay in prison. And if he does all that successfully, he will still try to see his children often and provide for them as much as he can.

"As long as I have a breath in my body," Blades promised, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to take care of my kids."

Everybody says they want to take care of the kids.

Mike Cox.

The mothers.

Bennie Blades.

And the more you hear it, the more you worry.