Crime & Safety
Florida Man Believed Dead Must Pay $2 Million In Child Support
An Indiana court ruled last week that a man who disappeared in 1993 and was living in Pasco County owes $2 million in back child support.
ZEPHYRHILLS, FL -- An Indiana court ruled this week that a man who disappeared in 1993 and was declared dead in 2003 must pay nearly $2 million in back child support.
In a bizarre case that was featured on ABC's “20/20,” Richard J. Hoagland abandoned his wife and two children, and moved to Zephyrhills where he lived under the name Terry Symansky for more than two decades.
He moved to Zephyrhills, remarried and was living off the radar until 2016 when the nephew of the real Terry Symansky, who died in 1991, found Hoagland using Symansky’s name while researching his family history through Ancestry.com.
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The nephew contacted the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested Hoagland for fraudulent use of personal identification.
According to the sheriff’s office, Hoagland was acquainted with the father of the real Terry Symansky who moved to Florida from Cleveland and became a commercial fisherman.
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The sheriff’s office believes Hoagland stole Symansky’s identification by using a copy of the man's death certificate to secure a birth certificate, driver's license and other documentation.
Hoagland was believed to have drowned in 1993 at the age of 33. At that time, he had been married twice and had four children.
As Terry Symansky, he married Mary Hossler Hickman in 1995 and the couple had a son. Hoagland reportedly worked odd jobs but managed to live comfortably, according to court records. He bought property, obtained his pilot’s license and even purchased a plane during the decade he was declared dead.
He was 63 years old when Pasco deputies arrested him.
After she discovered Hoagland was alive, his second wife, Linda Iseler, filed suit to receive unpaid child support, including the cost of college, for her now-grown children dating back to Hoagland’s disappearance.
On Wednesday, May 16, a magistrate in central Indiana’s Hamilton County awarded Hoagland’s former wife $1.86 million, reported the Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 19 in Hamilton County.
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