By Julie Manganis
DANVERS — A former Danvers man is in custody today, after traveling out West for nearly a decade in what officials say was an effort to avoid paying more than $50,000 in child support.
A prosecutor is crediting Daniel Delaney's ex-wife for her persistence.
"She has been really pushing to find him," said prosecutor Mary Ann DiNatale of the Department of Revenue.
Delaney, 47, was arrested last month in Nevada on unrelated charges, DiNatale said this week.
Authorities there discovered a 2003 warrant from Massachusetts charging Delaney with non-support of a minor child. Delaney was brought back to Massachusetts earlier this month. On Wednesday, Christine Cote was in Salem District Court with her two sons, her new husband and other family members for a pretrial hearing in Delaney's case.
It's been a long struggle for Cote, who raised her two sons, Brandon, 21, and Ryan, 19, alone for several years before remarrying. In 2005, her new husband legally adopted the boys.
Delaney couldn't be found at the time to sign away his parental rights.
His $117-a-week court-ordered support payments slowed down starting in 1999 and eventually stopped.
Delaney agreed to come back to Massachusetts. Now he's being held at Middleton Jail, unable to come up with the $50,000 bail — about half of what the DOR says Delaney owes in support payments, penalties and interest and what it might be able to seize if it is posted.
— Julie Manganis
