Tuesday, March 20, 2007

$30,000.00 per month and no child support!!

I am the grandmother of two little boys, ages 3 and 6.

Their father, Michael Martinez of Temecula, CA is a member of the Pechanga Indian Tribe. The Pechanga Tribe has a casino, and each registered member of the tribe receives $30,000.00 per month. This money comes from revenues from the casino, and is simply given to the members, they do not work to earn a penny.

So here is this guy, Michael Martinez raking in $30,000.00 per month to do nothing but sit at home, take trips, live the high-life, drive expensive cars. Meanwhile he has not payed a dime of child support since July 2006. His children are now supported by the welfare system, and the one and only reason that his children and ex (my daughter) are not homeless is because me and my husband, Grandpa and Grandma, have them living in our house. Michael Martinez does not care about his children, it is all about money for this guy. He has tried to take custody on more than one occasion and is in fact attempting to take custody once again. If he could get custody, then he would not have a court order to pay support. Michael, never checks on his children's health, schooling, nothing. He does not care that there are times when his children can not get hair cuts when dearly needed, are in need of clothing. He only cares about the money that he does not want to cut loose with. Michale is facing 29 counts of contempt of court for non-payment of child support, but even this has not caused him to pay up. He knows that because he is Indian his wages can not be attached and he thinks that is funny. As a matter of fact I have never known him to pay his bills, because he cannot be attached. Naturally his credit is very poor. But who cares about credit when you can simply walk into a car dealership with $10,000.00 in your hand, they'll give you a car. They do it for him all of the time.

I have written to the L.A. Times, the Riverside Press Enterprise, my state senator. None of them are willing to touch this subject. Why? Because the state of CA ranks in millions of dollars per year from the gambling revenues and is not about to risk losing a penny of the money.
It makes me sick that this guy is given so much money to sit on his ass, and his children live in poverty.

8 comments:

OPechanga said...

Grandma,

Tell your story on a myspace blog.

http://blog.myspace.com/paulinahunterofpechanga

ALSO, send your issue to KNBC, they have already done a story on Pechanga's disenrollment and could use this information on round TWO.

See the video:

http://video.nbc4.tv/player/?id=64156

Get your story out there! There is a comment section on the KNBC website.

OPechanga said...

Please tell us more grandma. Who did you talk to at Pechanga.

The kids are entitled to schooling and health care....

makemyday2day said...

Your story is spreading (I live in the midwest) and needs to be exposed. This is a total travesty. To top it off, every time he buys one of those cars, he doesn't pay sales tax (I used to work for a car dealership in CA and unless the law changed in the past few years, all they have to do is bring in a waiver signed by their tribal leader). My coworker's brother-in-law is a reporter for USA Today and maybe he'd be interested in pursuing this story. This SHOULD be on national news! Good luck and I'll try to follow this story and see if any progress is made.

OPechanga said...

How is your fight going?

OPechanga said...

Please feel free to add comments at my blog:

http://originalpechanga.blogspot.com

I'm working to get the word out and I need voices to increase the volume.

OPechanga said...

Any change in your situation?

We are getting the word out as much as possible.

OPechanga said...

Hey, Has anything CHANGED with your daughters situation?

Unknown said...

Wow,
Sounds just like me. I have a son from a Morongo Trial member, Gary Randal Moore AKA Randy. He too is refusing to pay child support and is over 80K behind. He did pay me sometimes in the past, but never the full amount. I too have written everyone..Tribe, President Bush, Congressmen, Senator, Governor, papers, etc. And you are right the local papers are not interested due to revenues. The only person interested is Barbara Boxer. I am not on any social services but have turned my case over to CSS. I am hoping that eventually for any tribe that does not honor child support orders, that it would become a Federal issue. Then the tribe would have to honor it. Laws need to change. You might also look into the child support recovery act of 1994, and the deadbeat parent act of 1998.
It is so sickening. Whats worse is my son has no Grandparents. My parents have been gone for over 10 years and never met my son. Randys mom, (also a Morongo Tribal member), wont even acknowledge him, although it is her ONLY grandson.
I have a lot of respect for the tribe and, most of the members are very decent people. I just happened to get involved with one of the idiots. I just wish Morongo would get on board with supporting their descendants. They do so much for the community. My innocent son deserves the best, but his father is pissing his per capita away. He has been charged with contempt and has a violation of probation hearing next month. I don't expect him to show. He keeps moving and I am not even sure where he lives?? Havasu somewhere??
He keeps alot his assets, boats, vehicles, dune buggies, race car (#57 Blythe speedway) in others name. He hasn't had a license in years, so suspending it doesn't affect him. Riverside court only required him to pay 100 month toward the back. This is a joke, it will take him over 65 years to catch up, and Randy is in his mid 40's. That doesn't even include the over 400 a month interest, not included in the 80K. I too will get on board with any suggestions.