10205 Nola Drive
Fairdale, Kentucky 40118
September 13, 2005

JUDGE FRANK K. CONLIFFE

Division 15
700 West Jefferson
Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Dear Judge Conliffe,

My name is Katherine Nava and I am writing to you in concern with the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, ex rel Deirdre Hurn, aka Deirdre Mattingly  vs. Callentano Nava case number 02-CR-2471. Mr. Nava is my husband, although we are not living together at this time, basically because of finances, my poor health and caring for my elderly mother, I am very concerned for him with the case at hand along with the case of 05CR1252 in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Mr. Nava and the mother in question had a child together in May 1988. From what was expected of Mr. Nava in 1990 he paid his child support until 1996. He was paying $35.00 a week current and $15.00 a week arrears of which he did not owe entirely. In May 1990 Mr. Nava was told he was $1860.00 dollars in arrears even though at a period of time the mother lived with Mr. Nava and he paid for her care while she was pregnant, and the infant had lived with him and his family without the mother present for a brief period, By March 1996 he was $2820.00 ahead of his support for which until the end of January 1998 he was current, even though the mother claimed to everyone including Mr. Nava’s daughter that he had never paid support and refused to allow Mr. Nava visitation with the child from June 1993 to present. The Mother stated to Mr. Nava at his Grandmother’s Funeral in 1996 that he was not to speak with the child and that she already had a father. Mr. Nava contacted the Child Support Division on many occasions before and thereafter to show his arrears were current, that he had overpaid and the Division and Mother were fully aware of this and he wanted to stop the extra $15.00 payment, they claimed he needed an attorney he could not afford. Mr. Nava at that time could hardly afford the $35.00 a week having to continue paying $50.00, attorneys wanted at least $1000.00 dollar retaining fee to represent him. They also claimed the Child Support Division should have corrected the amount without an attorney.

In early 2002 Mr. Nava was arrested for non-payment of child support and the Child Support Division and the mother claimed he was $52,000.00 thousand dollars behind in Child Support and also claimed he had never paid his support. This was a bold face lie. Mr. Nava was then ordered to pay $150.00 dollars a week and an additional $1,500.00 a month every month. This was impossible for him to pay then and now. When he didn’t pay as ordered, even though he pleaded his case before the courts he was sent to your court and charged him with a felony. At that time he was only about $5,610.00 dollars in arrearages. At that time it took me writing  to the Child Support Division Legal Department, the Attorney Generals Office and the Governor proving Mr. Nava did not owe the $52,000.00 the prosecutor and mother claimed he owed. An audit was then done in January 2003. The Audit that was then ordered did reflect that only  $9,398.00 was owed. However it still showed a $3,788.00 increased difference to our claimed amounts were we showed proof. I tried in vain to correct that amount as well but was unsuccessful, no one would return phone calls or letters to me but only to explain the Child Support did not give credit for collecting excess amounts of support. I even tried the Legal Department of the Child Support Division and spoke with an Attorney  and never got any answers there either, but that they would call you back. Even the Prosecutor claimed that they would not give him credit on the excess he had paid. The prosecutor made the comment that car payments were more then what he was paying in support, Mr. Nava replied at least when you pay for that car you get to drive it.

Now Mr. Nava is in another court besides yours facing another felony because the Child Support Division is claiming yet again that he owes an additional $15,000.00 thousand dollars in arrearages in the last 2 ½ years. This would be impossible and an outrage. He has been threatened with jail in both courts for not  paying the excessive amounts and not being credited for what he has paid and based on his income far exceeded what was leally obligated of him for which now has caused him to lose everything he had. Between the two courts Mr. Nava has been ordered to pay the Mother $1,200.00 a month. This amount can and well guarantee him a lengthy jail sentence. Mr. Nava did not graduate from school because he had to work to take care of the mother to be while she lived with him and his parents and can barely read and write. He does the best he can to survive. Because of the excessive amounts owed by Mr. Nava and him trying not to go to jail , we lost our home of 9 years to a foreclosure. Mr. Nava is not a dead beat Dad, he was not able to afford attorney fees to get his visitation rights, and when ever he did run into his daughter (they live only 2 miles from us) the child would get in trouble. She begged us not to speak to her anymore. This was heart breaking for our entire family because you see Mr. Nava helped me to raise my three beautiful children for 14 years. They are exceptional children who are Beth 21 years, Gary 18 years and Tiffany 15. Our 21 year old daughter lost her fiancée last year because he and his mother were killed by a drunk driver, and she is finally enrolling into college to be a school teacher, our 18 year old Son is going to go to college next year to be a youth minister and our 15 year old daughter passed her SAT’s at U OF L  in the seventh grade and was enrolled in the Duke University program in the seventh grade and she is in the 10 grade now. All of us, including her father have been affected by Jessica’s absentness in our life and it hurts us dearly to see her. My children would be totally devastated to see Mr. Nava go to jail for child support he does not owe.

Mrs. Mattingly (Hurns) has caused havoc in our live for far to long, she has written Mr. Nava a nasty letter, cussed him in public in front of their daughter and Mr. Nava’s attorney using profanity which is totally disgusting and taunts him with his daughter. This has got to stop, Mrs. Hurns has complete control over Mr. Nava’s life along with the Child Support Division. She claims he owes even more money and the Child Support Division is not doing their job to correct this. It is also a fact that the child does not even live with her mother now and for some time, and the child is being told that her father never provided for her ever. The reason for their failed relationship for which I know is irrelevant, but still a big concern was because the  mother had slept with Mr. Nava’s father, uncle and other family members, and the Mothers reason for not allowing Mr. Nava to see his alleged child was because he had married me. Before we married the Mother and her husband would come to our house and play cards without even being invited. We put up with this so Mr. Nava could see his child. The weekend before we were married the mother called the police and told them we kidnapped the child and the police came to our home surrounded it and took the child into custody, she was not allowed to attend the wedding and we never got visitation again. There has to be at least something the Courts can do against the Mother and the Child Support Division for trying to prosecute an innocent man. Mr. Nava cannot afford the excessive amounts he has to pay, for which he does not owe. The more he pays, the more they claim he owes, and the more they demand him to pay, giving the mother the opportunity to harass and demand that he go to jail. At this time the total amount of child support THAT SHOULD BE  owed is about $3,600.00 in your court and about $4,000.00 in the other. Mr. Nava’s Public Defender for the other case  and his Attorney for this case can not even believe he has been prosecuted in this way. The Public defender could not believe the amounts of money the courts had imposed on him and said it was excessive, uncalled for and unethical. I have enclosed a letter I received from Steve Veno with the Child Support Division claiming the Courts would correct this and yet they haven’t, and I don’t understand how this has gotten as far as it has. This is a total outrage and reprehensible that the Courts and the Child Support keep passing the buck on this case and it will at sometime be a guarantee that Mr. Nava will serve jail time for what he does not owe, he should be given credit were credit is due. He has tried his best to support his child. He has also went what was above his obligation to care for her without any rights what so ever, Mr. Nava is only a man and he has felt defeated for sometime and feels depressed at not being able to participate in his child’s life and sees that having to pay the Mother her child support will never end. As you may recall at the last court appearance for Mr. Nava, Mrs. Hurn was very determined to see Mr. Nava go to jail, actually that has been what she has wanted all along and is not the first time we have thought she may attack us. She has claimed on many occasions that she wants him in jail and could live without his support. This is why she became angry that he didn’t go to jail. I have enclosed a letter she wrote Mr. Nava two years ago demanding money she knew he did not owe. I tried in vain to speak to the Judge and prosecutor against Mr. Nava in 2002 and was even threaten with jail and my husband did not owe $52,000.00 in arrearages and even supplied them with proof and statements with the IRS showing the true amount of arrearages and they would not even look at them. From May 2002 to December 2002 he told Mr. Nava he wanted $150.00 a week and an additional $1,500.00 a month or he was going to jail. Mr. Nava paid $3,460.00 in that that 7 month time period and they said it wasn’t enough. They wanted nearly $10,000.00 and this amount did not include the Attorney fees he also had to pay. At that time period as we sat in court awaiting for the Judge to call the case we found were other fathers had owed even more, but their pay back was far less then Mr. Nava’s case. It was then that I knew he would eventually go to jail.  I even have a case with the Child Support Division with my youngest child and they claim her father owes me $72,000.00 dollars. He does not owe me what they claim he does, they also claim I received AFDC for which I never did and the Child Support Division collected about $5,000.00 in support according to the Minnesota Child Support Division and I never received all of it. The Child Support Division and their attorneys need to account for their mistakes and fix their system of handling payments, because at this point fathers are paying into the  child support division money they don’t even owe. If you were to call their 1-800- automated telephone system they will claim he owes an X amount of money which includes the arrearages, and when he doesn’t pay the X amount of money which includes arrearages, the Child Support Division adds the total amount INCLUDING ARREARAGES to the absent parent’s past due balance, thereby collecting more money then the current support allows. Something desperately needs to be done so Mr. Nava not only knows his money is caring for his child and the mother is only getting what she rightfully deserves. Mr. Nava has the right to defend himself and the Child Support Division has a legal obligation to heed to fairness, truth and ethical behavior in prosecuting an individual.

Sincerely,

Katherine Nava