ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Deputies said they've captured one of the worst deadbeat dads they've ever seen. He owes $651,000 in child support. He is the first father ever charged with a felony for failing to pay child support in Orange or Osceola counties.

Robert Abraham was in jail Thursday, but it's unclear if he'll be forced to pay all of the $651,000 he owes.

Sandy Pinkham knows the Orange and Osceola courts well and hopes this is the final chapter in a child support battle going on 15 years. Her ex-husband, Robert Abraham, is waiting arraignment in the Orange County jail.

Pinkham was married to Abraham for nearly 16 years. When he left in 1991, it was up to her alone to raise three young children aged 3, 6 and 9.

Court records show Abraham was found guilty of willful contempt of court seven times and ordered to pay child support he claimed he didn't have the money for. He was briefly jailed on a number of occasions on misdemeanor charges, but each time he was bailed out using cash he said came from friends.

Pinkham is claiming $651,000 in cumulative child support. Abraham claims to have paid about $130,000 over the years, but Pinkham says there were sometimes gaps of months between payments...

Civil remedies exhausted, Pinkham turned to rare law, criminal prosecution, a third-degree felony.

"Rare, first time we've seen it used in Orange-Osceola," said Danielle Tavernier, State Attorney's Office.

The State Attorney's Office issued an arrest warrant for Abraham on October 10. He was finally picked up Wednesday at an Orange County auto auction.

Pinkham said after Abraham refused a settlement offer of $200,000, she did not want to give up her fight.

"It's not vindication," she said. "It's not about him, me, it's about the children. How they grew up, what they're entitled to, what he's done to them."

Eyewitness News asked and Abraham declined to be interviewed for the story. It's unclear what his bond will be set at.

Robert Abraham's child support payment was as high as $4,000 a month at one point. There's no maximum of how much a judge can order a parent to pay. It's based on income and the children's needs.