Judge orders Sparks man to pay $140,000 in child support

Friday, Nov. 17, 2000 | 4:21 a.m.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen imposed the sentence Thursday on Edward Allen Berge, who was also ordered to keep current in monthly payments of $999 a month to his family.

Berge, 51, lived in the area until the early 1990s. He returned after a federal grand jury indicted him last year on charges of not paying child support.

Two of his three children are now adults, authorities said, but he must continue making support payments for the youngest child who is still a minor.

Berge pleaded guilty in July to a single count of willful failure to pay court-ordered child support, Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Denney said.

His arrest and prosecution was a joint effort by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Washoe County District Attorney's Office.

Berge was prosecuted in federal court under a 1998 law called the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, which introduced felony provisions for non-paying parents who reside in different states than their children.

The case marked the fifth felony indictment in Northern Nevada for nonpayment of child support.

Washoe prosecutors have four more such cases under investigation and are hoping for additional indictments before the end of the year, District Attorney Dick Gammick said.