An Indiana man who tried to avoid paying child support by pretending to be dead will now stand trial for false information, failing to appear, and contempt of court.

The Washington County Child Support administrator told Indiana State Police in April 2024 that she had received emails claiming that Jeffrey Lynn Bell Jr. had passed away and therefore couldn’t pay the “large amount of child support” he owed. The administrator also told investigators that she was certain Bell wasn’t dead and was actually living with his girlfriend in the northern part of the county.

A state police detective went to the home and met a man who would eventually be identified as Bell, although the man intiially denied his identity. Ultimately, he was charged with false informing and given an initial court date of January 23, 2025.

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.

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[Featured image: Jeffrey Bell Jr/Washington County Sheriff’s Office]