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By Jade Bulecza - bio | email
COOK COUNTY, GA (WALB) - A Cook County man is getting his life together after spending more than a year behind bars. Many people say he shouldn't have spent a day in jail.
Frank Hatley was ordered to jail for not paying child support, even though he's not the father of the child in question. It's all been worked out now, thanks in part to Cook County's Sheriff.
Hatley is thankful for all the support he received from his attorney, community, and Cook County Sheriff John Daughtrey.
"I've known Frank pretty much all of his life and I knew what his situation was," said Sheriff John Daughtrey. "I'm just glad the court ruled in his favor. I'm glad he got this behind him and that he'll be able to move forward."
Sheriff Daughtrey called for an attorney when Hatley was put in jail a second time for not paying child support on Travon Morrison, now 20 years old, who wasn't Hatley's child.
"I don't think it was anybody's menace or forethought on anybody's part," said Daughtrey. " It's just one of those things that slipped though the crack and the case never got looked at the way it should have been."
He was put in jail for the first time for six months in 2006 for not paying child support but was released after a doctor said he was going blind from cataracts.
"Everyday I got up and I just thanked God to just give me the strength and the willpower to face everyday," said Frank Hatley. "It was always in the back of my mind, I'm not suppose to be here."
Hatley says he should be compensated for the $6000 he did pay in child support and for the 13 months he spent in jail.
Hatley is getting his life back together. He's waiting on his income tax returns and also his driver's license so he can get back in the workforce and get a home of his own.
Hatley is currently living with his niece in Lenox.
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