Oregon's No. 1 Deadbeat Dad Enjoying Good Life In Honolulu

PORTLAND - The man considered one of Oregon's most flagrant deadbeat dads has a fancy house in Honolulu and drives nice cars, but he says they don't belong to him.

Jiro Akahori says he's involved in big real-estate deals but hasn't received his share of the money yet, so he still can't pay the $1,000-a-month child support and $2,000-a-month spousal support a Clackamas County judge ordered in 1994.

But officials say they can prove Akahori has two companies, recently earned at least $40,000 in salary and doesn't miss $500 lease payments on his 1991 Land Rover.

"I could use some of that $500 a month" in lease money, said his ex-wife, Tena Davis of West Linn. "I don't even have a car."

At the state's request, a Portland-based federal agent went to Hawaii last month and arrested Akahori. He was released on bail in Hawaii and ordered to appear in federal court in Portland.

It might be the first Oregon use of the rarely applied federal 1992 Child Support Recovery Act, which made it illegal for the resident of one state to refuse to pay support to the resident of another state.

The penalties for first-time violators are six months in prison and a fine up to $5,000. Repeat offenses can bring sentences of two years and fines of $250,000.

Procedural and budget matters, along with constitutional questions, slowed the government's implementation of the law. Federal officials said they were reluctant to become collection agencies. But President Clinton campaigned on the issue in 1996.

Prosecutions nationwide so far often have involved affluent fathers who were ignoring court orders.

Davis said Akahori, 48, never has paid support, even after her story and his picture appeared in a Hawaiian newspaper and on TV in Honolulu.

In an affidavit filed May 9 in federal court, Michael Nichols, a special agent for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said Akahori has bank accounts in Hawaii in his name and two company names, Tyler Davis Investment and Yotec Hawaii.

Akahori told a Honolulu newspaper last year that although he had no money, he was waiting for his commission on an $8.3 million land deal.

Akahori also told a Honolulu reporter that he didn't have the money to pay Davis and their son, and the house he lives in belongs to Shun Tezuka of Tokyo, president of a Hawaiian golf course development company.