CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Soldiers in the U.S. Army fight to uphold the Constitution.But do they get those same Constitutional rights when they get divorced in a foreign court? The I-team follows the story of a soldier who lost his son and half his pay with no chance to fight.
September 11th compelled Patrick Riley to join the U.S. Army.
"I was 27 - in decent shape - figured I'd go do something for my country," he says.
Between two tours in Iraq, he was stationed in Germany where he met Daniela. Riley and the German woman had a baby boy. Before he left again for Iraq, he married her. "I wouldn't have got married if it hadn't been for my son. I wanted to make sure he was going to be taken care of if anything should happen to me my second tour," he says
But shortly after the family moved stateside - to Shelby, North Carolina - where he was stationed as a recruiter, Riley says, "She left and my whole world turned upside down."
His wife took their son and flew out of Charlotte Douglas Airport back to Germany. "I can't even explain to you some thoughts - it's just so hard - cause you know two years of not having your son. It's hard," Riley says.
Then - with no notice - no court hearing - no way to contest it, the Army docked more than half of Sergeant Riley's pay. He says it leaves him with about 13-hundred dollars a month. Most of the garnishment was not child support - but alimony.
"My son is the main focus here. I don't care about the money," he says.
That's when Sgt. Riley began comparing notes with his ex-wife's first husband. "She did the same exact thing to him," Riley says.
About 100 miles from Sergeant Riley's house in Shelby, another Sergeant - Anthony Perkins - sits at his kitchen table and describes his son: "He's the apple of my eye."
Sergeant Perkins is also U.S. Army. Also once married to the same German woman - Daniela. Also had a son with her. And also had his pay docked before going to court.
"i said there's no way. How can this be? And at the time I wasn't served properly," says Sgt. Perkins.
And he says this same ex-wife also took "forty-five point five percent of my gross income." About half his paycheck.
And when did he learn he was losing half his pay? While he was serving *in* Iraq. "I just get this packet in the mail in Iraq saying i owe all this money," Sgt. Perkins says.
The I-Team spent weeks following the paper trail in Sgt. Riley's case and found many other American military service members could be in the same situation.
"The military doesn't notify you that it intends to garnish your pay," says Katherine Haen, Sgt. Riley's attorney. "You find out when you get half a check or something less than half a check."
Ms. Haen also served in the Army and was stationed in Germany. She discovered that Sgt. Riley's ex went to a German judge and got an emergency order - with no hearing.
"I'm not so sure they appreciate American soldiers mingling with Germans and if you do, you're going to pay," Haen says.
The German court order was forwarded to the U.S. - but not to Sgt. Riley - not to a U.S. court - and not even straight to the Army. No, this German order went straight to the Child Support Enforcement Agency in Cleveland, Ohio.
"I've never even been there so how did they get jurisdiction over myself, my son and her?" Sgt. Riley asks.
Turns out Cleveland is where Sgt. Riley's paycheck comes from - through the Defense Finance and Accounting System - known as DFAS. The child support agency just forwarded the German order across town and DFAS followed it.
"It shouldn't have happened that way," says Mark Sullivan, a Raleigh attorney who literally wrote the book on military divorce. "There's two sides to every case. This guy didn't have his say."
Mr. Sullivan says the child support agency should have filed the German order in a U.S. court. That way Sgt. Riley could have gotten notice and the chance to respond. "You should not be blindsided. Fundamental fairness and the right to due process involves notice, opportunity to be heard, a trial," says Sullivan.
"I know there has to be other soldiers and sailors out there that this is happening to," Sgt. Riley says. His attorney, Ms. Haen estimates, "probably hundreds at least."
Sgt. Riley says he's filing for bankruptcy. And he plans to leave the military under the wounded warrior program.
"They're losing a very good soldier because he has really spent a lot of time and energy to correct this situation," says Ms. Haen.
Sgt. Riley is planning to form an organization to help other soldier's who have lost custody of their kids. "If i could go tomorrow and have him for the weekend, I'd find a way to do it," Sgt. Riley says.
And while Sgt. Perkins and Sgt. Riley pay child support, neither gets the chance to see their sons. To do so they'd have to fight it out in a German court.
Sgt. Riley says, "It's just the hardship i haven't seen my son, heard his voice in two years. I'm sure he's going, 'Where's my dad? Doesn't my dad care about me?'"
A senior administrator at the child support enforcement agency in Cleveland says it acted lawfully but admits that it changed its policies because of Sgt. Riley's case and is now sending foreign orders to a U.S. court. Of course that doesn't help Sgt. Riley and Sgt Perkins. Their cases have already been decided.
