Guaynabo Man Pleads Guilty To Failure To Pay Legal Child Support Obligations

SAN JUAN, P.R. – Defendant Alexis Juelle-Albello pled guilty before United States District Court Judge Pedro A. Delgado to a one-count indictment which charged that from on or about May of 2011, continuing through the present, in the District of Puerto Rico, the defendant traveled in interstate commerce with the intent to evade a court imposed child support obligation, and said obligation has remained unpaid for a period longer than one year and is greater than $5,000 in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section228(a)(2), announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. According to court documents, the total amount of the debt as of June 2018 was $1,868,012.50.

Juelle-Albello married his first wife in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on November 8, 1991 and had two children. On June 26, 2007, the Trial Court of Bayamón, Family and Minors Part (the “Bayamón Court”), issued a judgment of divorce. Pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Bayamón Court’s orders in the divorce proceedings, the mother was given custody of the children and child support obligations were imposed on Juelle-Albello, which included the payment of a monthly stipend of $13,893.81 through the Puerto Rico Child Support Administration (“ASUME”).

On or about April 1, 2011, the Bayamón Court issued an order advising Juelle-Albello that his failure to comply with several orders requiring that he pay the children’s’ school tuition debt would result in his arrest without further hearings. On April 6, 2011, Juelle-Albello sought a Driver’s License from the State of Florida where he reported his residential address to be in Weston, Florida, and he setup residence with his new wife and child. He also took two trips to Mexico seeking business opportunities. In the meantime, Juelle-Albello continued to disregard the Bayamón Court’s orders and on May 19, 2011, the Bayamón Court found him in contempt and ordered his arrest. Despite the contempt order, Juelle-Albello failed to pay his child support obligations.

From 2014 through 2017, Juelle-Albello made multiple filings in the Bayamón Court seeking the renewal of his passport because the U.S. Department of State would not renew his passport because of his outstanding child support obligations. In the motions filed, Juelle-Albello offered increasing amounts to the Court in exchange for an order authorizing the issuance of a passport. On January 27, 2014, he offered to make payments of $3,000.00 per month. On May 23, 2014, he offered a $30,000.00 lump sum payment alongside the monthly payments of $3,000.00. On August 22, 2014, he offered a lump sum payment of 20% of the outstanding debt of approximately $1,200,000.00, which lump sum payment would have equaled approximately $248,000.00. On May 17, 2017, he offered to make payments of $4,000.00 per month. All of these offers to pay in exchange for the renewal of his passport so he could pursue further business opportunities around the world evidenced Juelle-Albello’s capacity to pay his outstanding child support obligations, at least in some part, and his willful decision not to meet these obligations in any part.

The Bayamón Court rejected Juelle-Albello’s offers to make partial payments in exchange for the renewal of his U.S. passport and ordered him, instead, to make immediate payment of the totality of the outstanding debt to ASUME, which the Bayamón Court established in June 21, 2018 to be $1,868,012.50. Juelle-Albello has not made any payments to ASUME to address his outstanding debt from July 2013, through the present. Juelle-Albello only appeared in this jurisdiction in July 2018, after Mexican Immigration authorities deported him and delivered him to U.S. authorities pursuant to a federal arrest warrant issued in this case.

“The failure of parents to meet their child support obligations is a serious problem in this country and Congress enacted the federal felony crime under which Juelle-Albello has been prosecuted so federal agencies can supplement state and local child support enforcement efforts,” said U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. “Making sure parents live up to their financial responsibilities for the children is an important national priority. Protecting the wellbeing and interests of our most precious national source, our children, is highly appropriate and necessary.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dennise N. Longo-Quiñones. The case was investigated by the FBI. The defendant is facing a maximum term of imprisonment of two years and fines up to $250,000, or both.