Feds hit actor with child-support charge

Kim Smith

Thursday, Aug. 5, 1999 | 12:07 p.m.

One of Nicolas Cage's co-stars in the movie "Snake Eyes" was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on willful failure to pay child support.

According to the indictment, Stan Allen Shaw has filed to pay child support for a child living in Clark County for more than two years. The case was filed under the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998, a provision of the Child Support Recovery Act passed by Congress.

The Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act amendment was introduced so that federal prosecutors could pursue nonpaying parents who reside in different states from their children and who owe in excess of $10,000, said Joseph Sullivan, assistant U.S. attorney. Many states are unable to enforce child support obligations across state lines.

Sullivan said that according to the Clark County district attorney's office, Shaw owes more than $60,000 in child support. Documents indicate he is supposed to pay $500 per month for the child, the age and gender of whom is kept confidential, Sullivan said.

Shaw, who lives in California, appeared with Cage in "Snake Eyes" and also appeared in the movie "Daylight."

A Florida resident, Donald Ray Simmons Jr., was also indicted Wednesday on a charge of willful failure to pay child support. Dona Ana County, New Mexico records show he owes more than $90,000 in child support and interest, Sullivan said.

"These are very atypical arrearages," Sullivan said. "It's not very often you see people with these amounts of arrearages, and these are the kinds of cases we get involved in."

The U.S. attorney's office has filed two other felony cases within the past year, which are still pending, Sullivan said.

Summonses have been issued for both Shaw and Simmons to appear in court Aug. 20, Sullivan said.