AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -Former Oakland Athletics first baseman Troy Neel has been charged with fleeing to a tiny South Pacific island to avoid paying about $725,000 in child support.
The 43-year-old Neel, who used to live in Austin, has been out of the country since he was ordered in 1998 to pay $5,000 a month for his son and daughter, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said Neel owes $724,325.
“While living on a private island in the South Pacific, the defendant ignored his legal obligation to support his children,” Abbott said in a statement.
Federal authorities arrested Neel at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday as he exited a flight from Sydney, Australia.
Neel played for Oakland from 1992 to 1994 and also played in Japan and Korea before purchasing a resort island in the Republic of Vanuatu, where he has lived since 2000. The small chain of islands is located about 1,000 miles east of Australia.
A San Antonio federal grand jury indicted Neel on the charge in 2005.
o be transferred back to Texas. If convicted, he faces up to two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Federal and state officials have been working on the Neel case for eight years.
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