A man from Indiana is facing trial for giving false information, not showing up in court, and disobeying court orders after attempting to evade child support payments by faking his own death.
The Washington County Child Support office received emails in April 2024 claiming that Jeffrey Lynn Bell Jr. had died and therefore was unable to fulfill his substantial child support debt. However, the administrator suspected that Bell was alive and living with his girlfriend in the northern area of the county.
Upon investigation, a detective from the Indiana State Police visited Bell’s residence, where Bell initially denied his identity. Despite his denial, he was later identified as Bell and charged with providing false information. He was scheduled to appear in court on January 23, 2025, for the charges against him.
Bell attended that court date remotely after claiming to be out of state. But officials became suspicious that he was actually still at his girlfriend’s home in north Washington County.
Washington County deputies immediately went to the home while the court proceedings were still in progress, and sure enough, there he was. Judge Larry Medlock ordered the deputies to take him into custody and bring him to court.
Once in court, he was slapped with three failure to appear charges and contempt of court. While he had a $100,000 bond on the false reporting charge, two of the failure to appear charges and the contempt of court came with no bail.
And Bell will still have to pay the child support.
