Project Child Support Obtains Arrest Warrant for Lionel Ridenour

Oct. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- Honorable Judge Keith A. Backmann of the Bergen County, New Jersey Superior Court, has ordered an arrest warrant to be issued for the apprehension of music mogul Lionel Ridenour for the nonpayment of child support in the amount of $260,541.39 to the mother of his 9-year old daughter.  The arrest warrant was granted through the services provided by Project Child Support, which will enable Mr. Ridenour to be arrested by local police, federal agents or fugitive recovery agents should he fail to immediately pay his unpaid child support.  Paragraph 23 of the Enforcement Order requires the New Jersey Department of Probation to issue an arrest warrant, and enables Mr. Ridenour’s cell phone records to be subpoenaed to determine his location.

Who is Lionel Ridenour?  You may have heard of the names Clive Davis, Whitney Houston, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Janet Jackson, Outkast, Jermain Dupri, Tony Braxton, Monica, TLC, Pink, Baby Face, Aretha Franklin, Heavy D and Lenny Kravitz, but it was Lionel Ridenour who helped launch the music of these superstars.  Lionel Ridenour served as the Senior Vice President of Arista Records between 1987 to 2003, Executive Vice President of Virgin Records between 2003 to 2009, and is now the Executive Vice President of the legendary Malaco Music Group , which is one of the largest producers of R&B, Gospel, Blues and Urban music.  Receiving a salary of more than $500,000 per year, in addition to bonuses and royalties while at Arista; Lionel Ridenour continues to makes millions as a music executive and spokesperson, while failing to pay child support, and court ordered health insurance to the disabled mother of his special needs daughter.

“Before taking any further steps to have Mr. Ridenour arrested, we are going to give him the opportunity to pay his arrears and the fees required to provide services for our client who is the custodial parent of his child.  It would be a shame for an accomplished professional like Mr. Ridenour to go to jail when he generates the earnings to resolve this matter rather quickly.  We are open to structuring a payment plan and filing another consent order that would prevent him from going to jail, as long as the terms are acceptable to the mother of his child, and he is willing to maintain the obligation.   In February 2006, Mr. Ridenour entered into a consent order with our client, and agreed to his child support payment terms.  Unlike many child support orders forced on non-custodial parents, he agreed to the child support obligation he failed to pay.  I don’t understand how the Malaco Music Group failed to garnish his wages, but this is a common occurrence in the entertainment industry.  Like the Stevie J case, this case also qualifies as a Felony Child Support Enforcement Case”, says Kai D. Patterson, who is the CEO and Founder of Project Child Support.

"Last June 2014, Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta star and music mogul Stevie A. Jordan (A.K.A Stevie J) was arrested for the nonpayment of child support by the U.S Attorneys Office in New York State after the mother of his two children subscribed to the services of Project Child Support.  Mr. Jordan has been released on bail and is awaiting a federal trial, which may land him in federal prison.  Mr. Ridenour may find himself in the same situation if he chooses to fail to comply with the enforcement order, which requires full payment or his arrest.  The cases coincidently are very similar because both Mr. Ridenour and Mr. Jordan live in separate states from their children, they are both in the music industry, they both make millions of dollars, they both live in Atlanta, Georgia and they both have the ability to prevent their salaries from being garnished to comply with their court ordered child support obligations”, says Patterson.

Project Child Support’s enforcement affiliate, Bounty Alert Inc., has entered into agreements with over 40 fugitive recovery agencies (bounty hunters) to hunt-down non-custodial parents with arrest warrants for the nonpayment of child support.  Project Child Support entered into an agreement to provided the mother of Mr. Ridenour’s child with investigative, legal, collection and if necessary apprehension services.  Without these services, many custodial parents would have nowhere to turn to collect the support for their children. Kai D. Patterson founded the Project Child Support initiative in honor of his late mother who was unable to collect a single payment of child support from his father, who coincidently was in the entertainment industry.  In August 2014, Project Child Support launched the Nation’s first and only Child Support Mobile Assistance Center (MAC), which travels to family courts to assist custodial and non-custodial parents with their collection and payment dilemmas.

For more information, contact Project Child Support at (855) 851-HELP or (855) 851-4375 or via e-mail at support@custodialsupport.org