March 26, 2007

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The search for "deadbeat" parents now has a delivery option: three pizzerias in Ohio have put wanted posters on their pizza boxes to help catch parents who don't pay their child support.

Each box of pizza is plastered with a poster with 10 names, photos and last known addresses of parents who are not paying court-ordered support, along with a toll-free number that pizza-eaters can call to report the deadbeat parent.

Cynthia Brown, head of the Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency, said she came up with the idea after she ordered pizza one night and noticed coupons taped to the box.

"I thought if they could put coupons on the box, why not one of our posters?" said Brown.

She said Butler County's agency is the first agency in the country to put the wanted posters on pizza boxes. The posters were originally put in police cars so police could keep an eye out for deadbeat parents while doing their rounds.

Photos of missing children have been pictured on milk cartons in the United States for years.

Brown said 20 parents have been pictured on the pizza boxes since the program began in August 2006, and one father caught.

"We caught him within one day, someone saw the picture on the pizza box, called our tip line, we forwarded the information to the sheriff's department and they picked him up," Brown said. "It's a start. I don't think he's going to be the last one."

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

Editor's Note: Something tells us that pepperoni and "deadbeat" parents don't go well together.