Republican Lt. Governor candidate Micah Beckwith has been sued and had wages garnished in the past, including a lawsuit filed by the Allen County Treasurer for failure to pay taxes.
As revealed this past week in The Cheat Sheet and in the Indiana Capital Chronicle, Beckwith has been taken to court for failing to pay his bills, which resulted in his church wages being garnished.
Here is an excerpt from this weekend’s Cheat Sheet…
A check of court records shows that Beckwith was the subject of legal action in 2007, 2008, and 2010. In 2007, Beckwith and a company he owned called Embroidme, Inc. were sued in Hamilton County Small Claims court by a company called Client Services. Client Services sued Beckwith, saying he owed them $5070.35. Client Services ended up getting a default judgment (in English that means Beckwith never showed up to court) and ended up having his wages garnished from his church paycheck. The case ended in 2012 when Beckwith made the last payment and the file was destroyed in 2018. (35D01-0712-SC-01769)
The second legal issue Beckwith faced was in 2008 in Allen County Small Claims Court. This was another debt collection that was a lot like the first one. Beckwith was sued by Capital One Bank for $1727.92. He was served notice, failed to appear, a default judgment was entered and his church wages were garnished. (02D01-0811-SC-021318)
In the third collection action, and this one could be the most damning, the government did the suing. Beckwith was sued by the Allen County Treasurer’s office in 2010. The pattern was the same. Beckwith owed money but didn’t pay it, so the county sued and filed a motion to garnish his wages. Beckwith never showed up in court, but like others where his wages were simply garnished, in this one, he was held in contempt and may still be. According to MyCase, the debt has never been paid or settled, and there was nothing on MyCase to indicate that the case was closed. So, this is very likely still pending. The amount Beckwith owed the county was not listed on MyCase.
We did learn in the third case that only reason the County Treasurer would have filed suit would have been to collect back due taxes, either personal or business personal property tax.
According to my friend attorney Brian Ciyou, “civil contempt is typically used to coerce compliance with a court order. It involves disobeying a court order that was issued for the benefit of a private party, such as failing to pay court-ordered child support or alimony. Civil contempt is not considered a crime, but it can result in fines or even jail time until the individual complies with the court order.” And here’s the kicker on this one: the Republican candidate for Lt. Governor is currently in contempt of court for failing to appear to address the debt he’s been alleged to owe the government, i.e., the taxpayers. This can’t be good. (02C01-1003-CC-000215)
Indy Politics plans to contact Beckwith to get his side of the story; however, Capital Chronicle said it tried: “Beckwith, reached through his campaign, didn’t respond to questions about the wage garnishments or traffic violations.”
